A host of key benefits are expected to be announced by EPFO by Diwali festival. One of the biggest hope is of hike in minimum pension under EPS 1995 scheme. Meanwhile, as per the latest reports, EPFO could relax withdrawal norms for its subscribers going ahead. Along the same time, EPFO notified that the adoption of unified pension scheme (UPS) is halted.
EPFO UPS Adoption:
In its notification on September 22, EPFO said, "It is to inform that the matter regarding implementation of Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) for the employees of the Central Board is still under consideration. Accordingly, the Circular No. (E-981962)HRD-II/60/2025/UPS-Adoption/1324 dated 28th March 2025 may be treated as kept in abeyance until further orders."
Currently, the deadline to exercise the option of being covered under UPS is fixed on September 30, 2025.
The March order had allowed EPFO subscribers to adopt UPS and they were given three months time period for the same, starting from April 1st. UPS is an alternative to national pension scheme, offering massive benefits like:
1. Assured pension: 50% of the average basic pay drawn over the last 12 months prior to superannuation for a minimum qualifying service of 25 years. This pay is to be proportionate for lesser service period upto a minimum of 10 years of service.
2. Assured family pension: @60% of pension of the employee immediately before her/his demise.
3. Assured minimum pension: @10,000 per month on superannuation after minimum 10 years of service.
4. Inflation indexation: on assured pension, on assured family pension and assured minimum pension
EPFO Withdrawal Norms:
Two government senior officials told MoneyControl, the EPFO could ease withdrawal limits for the purpose of housing, marriage and education. Though the sources did not provide a timeframe, they said the government is looking is to implement these changes in the retirement saving plan within a year.
The current rule is that EPFO subscribers can withdraw their corpus amount only after reaching the retirement age, which is 58% years or if they are unemployed for over 2 months.
EPS Minimum Pension:
The Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is reportedly expected to meet between October 10th to October 11th. The meeting is expected to take place in Benaluru, and will be chaired Union Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
Several benefits in employees provident fund (EPF) accountholders is expected to be announced, which would likely boost household consumption ahead of the mega festival Diwali.
Among the agendas is a comprehensive upgrade of EPFO to offer seamless transactions in EPF and EPS accounts. The EPFO portal is expected to be revamped. For this, major tech companies such as Infosys, TCS, and Wipro were shortlisted.
There is likelihood of raising the minimum pension amount from Rs.1,500 to Rs.2,500. This has been a long-pending demand of the trade unions because of rising living costs. The EPFO Central Board of Trustees seems to have finally decided to address their demand, as pr HDFC Sky blog.
Under the PM Narendra Modi government, the Ministry of Labour & Employment provided the first minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month to the pensioners of the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995. This has been in place since September 1, 2014.
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