New Delhi: The Finance Minister said on Monday that 7,253 claims have been received under the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) so far, and 4,978 of these claims have been processed for payment as of July 20, 2025.
There are a total of 25,756 retired Central government employees who qualify for extra benefits under UPS. These eligible people are Central government employees who have retired, passed away, or retired early under specific government rules (Fundamental Rules 56 (j)) on or before March 31, 2025, and who completed at least 10 years of service while covered under the National Pension System (NPS).
UPS was introduced as an option under the NPS for Central government employees who are part of the NPS. There is no plan to extend these UPS benefits to other pension schemes or sectors.
Because employees and associations requested it, the deadline to opt for UPS was extended by three months and is now September 30, 2025.
The government also extended the benefits of retirement and death gratuity (a lump sum payment) to Central government employees covered by UPS, under specific government rules established in 2021.
Government employees who choose UPS will also be eligible for other government pension benefits under CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 or CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023, if they die during service or are discharged due to disability or invalidation.
Importantly, the government has now also extended the same tax benefits to UPS that are available under NPS, as per the Income Tax Act, 1961. This tax relief is intended to encourage employees to opt for UPS by providing similar financial incentives and parity with NPS.
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