No proposal for restoration of Old Pension Scheme : FM

New delhi (11/08):The Centre had moved away from OPS due to its unsustainable fiscal liability on the government exchequer, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a reply in the Lok Sabha.There is no proposal under consideration for the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in respect of central government employees covered under the National Pension System (NPS), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha on Monday. She said, the Centre had moved away from OPS “due to its unsustainable fiscal liability on the government exchequer”.

The minister added that to improve pensionary benefits for employees under NPS (introduced in 2004), a committee under the then Finance Secretary was set up to suggest modifications. “Based on the deliberations of the Committee with stakeholders, Unified Pension Scheme [UPS] has been introduced as an option under NPS with the objective of providing defined benefits after retirement to the Central Government employees covered under the NPS,” she said