National Pension Scheme: Maharashtra makes revised NPS opt-in for employees — Check deadline, minimum pay, other details

NPS news: Maharashtra has made its revised National Pension Scheme optional for government employees covered under current NPS, allowing opt-in by year-end, PTI reported citing a circular from the state finance department last week.

According to the latest circular, the revised NPS for state government employees will be implemented on opt-in basis and will apply only for those who exercise the option within the deadline. Eligible and willing employees make their submission latest by 31 December 2026.

The revised NPS was approved two years back by the Maharashtra cabinet to be implemented for state government employees on the lines of the Centre's Unified Pension Scheme (UPS). Today we discuss how the pension will be calculated, the minimum monthly payout and years of service required by Maharashtra state government employees to claim NPS.

Maharashtra pension scheme — minimum pay, details

• Maharashtra government has made revised NPS optional for employees covered under existing pension scheme.
• As per the circular, employees retiring at the prescribed age with 20 years or more of service and opting for the revised scheme will be entitled to a pension equal to 50% of their last drawn salary, along with dearness allowance (DA).
• Further, employees retiring at the prescribed age with service between 10-20 years, will draw pension proportionate to the length of service based on the last drawn salary, it added.

• Minimum pension payout has been fixed at ₹7,500 per month for employees retiring after at least 10 years of service under the revised scheme, as per the report.
• The circular added that for family pension at 60% of the admissible pension along with dearness relief will be provided by the government.

Revised NPS: Who is eligible, who is not?

• State government employees, the revised NPS benefits also apply, with suitable modifications, to employees of aided educational institutions, agricultural universities and affiliated non-government colleges, as well as staff of zilla parishads and panchayat samitis in Maharashtra, the circular stated.
• There are no pension benefits for employees with less than 10 years of service.

• Also, employees who resign will not be eligible for pension under the revised scheme and will continue to receive benefits only under the existing NPS framework.
• The finance department said a separate detailed procedure will be released for the disbursement of pension under the revised scheme, as per the report.

How will revised NPS payout work?

According to the circular, under the revised NPS, employees must deposit 60% of the accumulated corpus received from the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) with the government through the drawing and disbursing officer at the time of retirement.

The remaining 40% of the accumulated fund will be utilised to purchase an annuity, and the annuity amount will be adjusted against the pension payable by the state government.

Employees are allowed early withdrawal from NPS corpus under the revised scheme, but the amount must be refunded with 10% interest, failing which the entitlement will be adjusted accordingly instead.

Further, retirement gratuity will be applicable to those opting for the revised scheme as per earlier orders issued in March 2023.

(With inputs from PTI)

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