According to ET reports, EPFO may soon give members an option to start drawing their pension once they turn 60 instead of 58 currently.
The proposal to increase the superannuation age for drawing pension under the scheme is expected to help a beneficiary grow his/her pension kitty, while also aiding the pension fund in reducing its deficit.
The EPFO could also offer incentives, such as additional bonus to those who agree to draw their pension at 60.
“Age of superannuation, which is 58 years, needs to be increased to 60 years as most of the pension funds world over, are giving pension after 65 years,” the retirement fund manager said in amendments proposed to the EPF Act, 1952. ET reports
Current Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible for availing benefits under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), an individual has to fulfill the following criteria:
- You should be a member of EPFO.
- You should have completed 10 years of service.
- You reached the age of 58.
- You can also withdraw your EPS at a reduced rate from the age of 50 years.
Latest Updates EPF Pension Scheme
- EPFO may soon come up with good news for pensioners– The minimum pension amount may be increased from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 2000 every month. There are more than 60 lakh subscribers of Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 and more than 40 lakh members get pension less than Rs. 1500 every month. It will benefit these subscribers of the EPFO and would cost the government an additional burden of Rs. 3000 crores.
- Private Sector Employee Pension to Increase Manifold After Supreme Court Verdict – While dismissing the special leave petition filed by EPFO against the Kerala High Court Judgement, the Supreme Court has paved the path for a higher pension to all the private sector employees. The apex court has asked the EPFO to provide pension to private-sector employees in proportion to their full salary. Earlier, EPFO was providing pension calculated on the salary of the employee with a maximum cap at Rs. 15,000. Now that the cap of Rs. 15,000 has been removed, the EPS contributions will be calculated based at 8.33% of the actual salary of the employee. However, the increase in the pension is expected to come at the cost of a decrease in the net EPF corpus of the employee.
