Contribution of public sector banks in NPS for employee pensions is hiked to 14 per cent
The government has increased the family pension of bank employees to 30 per cent of the last salary drawn, in a move that would hike the pension payout to as much as Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 per family of bank employees. Earlier, the cap was fixed at Rs 9,284 crore, said Mr Debashish Panda, Finance Secretary at a press conference addressed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held earlier today in Mumbai.
The Indian Banks' Association's (IBA) had earlier recommended that the family pension, which was payable at the slab rates of 15 per cent, 20 per cent, and 30 per cent for various categories of pensioners must be improved, without any fixed cap. The government approved IBA's proposal and Finance Minister sought to revise the pension payout, to benefit the families of bank employees.
Mr Panda also announced that the contribution of employer (public sector banks) in the National Pension Scheme (NPS) for employee pensions is also hiked to 14 per cent from the earlier 10 per cent. (Also Read: Finance Minister Launches EASE 4.0, Reviews Performance Of PSBs: Highlights )
On Wednesday, August 25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman conducted the annual performance review of public sector banks with all PSU heads. Finance Minister also launched EASE 4.0 or Enhanced Access and Service Excellence, which is a reform agenda aimed at institutionalizing smart banking.
Meanwhile last month, the government hiked the dearness allowance (DA) for central government employees and dearness relief (DR) to pensioners to 28 per cent from 17 per cent with effect from July 1. Both dearness relief and dearness allowance were put on hold last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
