There’s some buzz for employees who are account holders with the Employees Provident Fund Organization. With the recent talk about the Unified Pension Scheme and the EPFO 3.0 initiative, there’s been a growing push to raise the minimum pension for retirees.
Private sector workers under the EPFO are also calling for an increase in the monthly minimum pension provided by the Employees Pension Scheme (EPS). The Pensioners Association argues that the current minimum pension of Rs 1,000 is far too low and should be raised to Rs 9,000.
Recently, pensioners in Nashik, Maharashtra staged a protest outside the EPFO office, demanding a hike in the minimum pension. Additionally, various labor groups across the country have planned a nationwide strike on May 20, advocating for the repeal of labor codes and an end to privatization.
Reports indicate that the EPS-95 National Struggle Committee had a discussion with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman prior to the budget, hoping for some announcements regarding this in the 2025-26 budget, but nothing materialized. The Madras Labor Union and B & C Mills Staff Union have also reached out to Union Labor Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, urging for the pension to be increased to Rs 9,000 per month.
Employees in the private sector who are part of the EPFO receive a basic pension through the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS). Back in September 2014, the Central Government set a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month for those enrolled in the EPS, 1995, a figure that pensioners have been urging to be raised for quite some time.
Recently, in 2023, the Ministry of Labor proposed an increase to the Finance Ministry, but it was not approved. Currently, around 186 institutions are included under EPF-95, with approximately 8 million pensioners in total. Notably, 1.8 million of these pensioners are from the state of Maharashtra alone.