The central government has launched a new option, ‘Unified Pension Scheme’ (UPS) for central employees under the National Pension System (NPS). This scheme has come into effect from 1 April 2025. In this, employees will get a guaranteed pension as per certain conditions. So, if you are also a central employee and are included in NPS, then this news is very important for you. Know how much money will be deducted from your salary every month under UPS and what benefits you will get.
How much will be required to be made at UPS
Under the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), every month the employee has to contribute 10% of his basic salary + dearness allowance. The government will also contribute the same amount. Apart from this, the government will make an additional contribution of an estimated 8.5% to the pool corpus of UPS. That is, the employees will get full support of the government in preparing a strong corpus for their pension.
Golden option for employees with NPS
Central employees who are in service on 1 April 2025 and come under NPS can opt for this new scheme. This scheme is voluntary; that is, employees can go to UPS if they want. Once they go to UPS, they cannot return to NPS. Therefore, it is important to make a well-thought-out decision.
Pension will be issued from the PRAN account only
If an employee wants to go from NPS to UPS, then the amount of his NPS corpus deposited till now will be transferred to the same PRAN (pension account)! Now this PRAN will be linked to UPS and his pension facility will be issued from there. That is, your earlier savings will also be safe and you will also get the benefit of the new scheme.
What is the Individual Corpus and the Benchmark Corpus
Individual Corpus: It shows the total amount deposited in PRAN of every employee associated with UPS. That is, it is your own pension fund.
Benchmark Corpus: It is a quantitative value determined by CRA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) to assess the level of corpus amount of an employee. It is based on the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the Fixed Investment Scheme. It is a kind of scale by which the progress of your pension fund can be assessed.
The UPS scheme is an important step towards providing a stable and secure pension to central employees. This scheme will create a balance between traditional and investment-based pensions for employees. For employees who want to plan a fixed income for the future, UPS can prove to be a good option. This scheme will provide them financial security after retirement.