{"id":172681,"date":"2025-12-03T10:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T10:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/172681\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T10:45:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T10:45:16","slug":"eps-95-setback-government-cites-eps-fund-deficit-will-the-minimum-rs-1000-pension-stay-unchanged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/172681\/","title":{"rendered":"EPS 95 setback: Government cites EPS fund deficit; will the minimum Rs 1,000 pension stay unchanged?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EPS EPS subscribers hoping for a higher minimum and maximum pension are unlikely to see any change soon, with the Labour Ministry confirming that the fund is running an actuarial deficit. The disclosure, made in the Lok Sabha on Monday, indicates that the Employees\u2019 Pension Scheme (EPS-95) is not generating enough returns to meet current payouts.Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje said the valuation of the EPS fund as on 31 March 2019 showed a deficit, signalling limited scope for enhancing benefits under the scheme, according to an ET report.The clarification came in response to an unstarred question from Balya Mama Suresh Gopinath Mhatre, who asked if the government plans to raise the minimum EPS-95 pension from Rs 1,000 to Rs 7,500 per month.Why the pension hike is unlikelyExplaining the scheme\u2019s structure, the minister noted that EPS-95 is a \u201cdefined contribution-defined benefit\u201d arrangement. \u201cThe corpus of the Employees\u2019 Pension Fund is made up of (i) contribution by the employer @ 8.33 per cent of wages; and (ii) contribution from Central Government through budgetary support @ 1.16 per cent of wages up to an amount of Rs 15,000\/- per month,\u201d Karandlaje said, ET quoted.She added that all benefits are paid from these accumulations and that the fund is valued annually under Paragraph 32 of EPS, 1995. \u201cAs per the valuation of the fund as on 31.03.2019, there is an actuarial deficit,\u201d she said.Mhatre also highlighted several long-standing concerns of EPS-95 pensioners, including the absence of Dearness Allowance, the inadequacy of the existing pension amount, and the government\u2019s response to representations made by pensioners\u2019 organisations.Responding, the minister said, \u201cThe government is providing a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month to the pensioners under the EPS, 1995, by providing budgetary support, which is in addition to the budgetary support of 1.16 per cent of wages provided annually towards EPS to Employees\u2019 Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).\u201dHer reply highlighted that the scheme\u2019s financial strain has required continuous central support. Karandlaje further said, \u201cThe Government of India is committed to ensuring maximum benefits for workers under the EPS-95 scheme, duly taking into consideration the health of the respective funds as well as the future liabilities thereon.\u201dThe minister\u2019s statements indicate that given the current deficits and ongoing funding pressures, an upward revision of the minimum pension appears unlikely in the near term.What EPS-95 currently offersEPS-95 provides social security benefits to members and their families across multiple life events. These include:Pension on superannuation at 58 yearsEarly pension from 50 yearsDisability pension during serviceWidow\/widower pension on the member\u2019s deathChildren\u2019s pension for two children up to 25 yearsOrphan pension for two orphans up to 25 years if no spouse is aliveLife-long disabled child\/orphan pensionNominee pension when there is no familyPension for dependent parents in absence of family or nomineeWithdrawal benefit for members not eligible for pensionEPS subscribers have long sought an increase in both the minimum and maximum pension limits, but the latest parliamentary reply suggests their demands will remain unresolved for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EPS subscribers hoping for a higher minimum and maximum pension are unlikely to see any change soon, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,95192,46699,95189,176,95190,61,60,92929,94118,95191,174,175],"class_list":["post-172681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-dearness-allowance-for-pensions","tag-employees-pension-scheme","tag-eps-95-pension","tag-finance","tag-government-of-india-pensions","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-labour-ministry","tag-minimum-pension","tag-pension-hike","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}