The Finance Ministry on Thursday asked all government employees to shift to the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) before the September 30 deadline to ensure timely processing of their requests, failing which they would not be eligible to opt for UPS.
"All eligible employees are urged to exercise their option well before the deadline to avoid any last-minute difficulties and to ensure timely processing of their requests. Employees who choose to remain in NPS cannot opt for UPS after this date," the ministry said in a statement.
The government had introduced UPS as an option under the National Pension System (NPS) for central government employees from April 1, 2025. Till July 20, as many as 31,555 central government employees including past retirees had opted for the UPS.
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On August 25, the Finance Ministry introduced a ‘one-time one-way’ switch facility from the newly-introduced UPS to the NPS, saying it will be made available to all central government employees who have opted for UPS.
"This switch facility may be exercised by UPS optees any time not later than one year prior to the date of superannuation or three months prior to the deemed date of retirement in case of voluntary retirement, as applicable," the ministry added.
Further, government employees who opt for UPS under NPS have also been declared eligible to avail benefits under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, or the CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023, in the event of death of the government servant during service or his discharge on the ground of invalidation or disablement.
The Centre has also extended tax benefits to UPS as are available to NPS under the Income Tax Act, 1961.
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