Govt to bridge inconsistencies in pension rules: DFS Secretary D Nagaraju

Mumbai: The Centre would continue to encourage retirement savings and bridge the inconsistencies in pension rules to ensure that both the organised and unorganised sectors are covered, department of financial services secretary D Nagaraju said Tuesday.

He pointed out the inconsistencies in pension rules which say that employees with a basic salary and dearness allowance of above ₹15,000 are not automatically required to contribute to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Employee Pension Scheme (EPS) but can choose to join voluntarily with employer consent with contributions limited to the ₹15,000 ceiling.

"One thing which is inconsistent for me (is) the pension. People who are earning less than ₹15,000 per month (have to) mandatorily enroll in the EPF regime. But (for) those who are earning more than ₹15,000, it's not mandatory. In fact, some of the people in the private sector who are earning more than that don't have any pension fund, which is very bad," Nagaraju said at the CII Financing Summit in Mumbai.


"We need to look at how we secure the future of those who earn a little more also, but have a secure future, not depending on the children, at the time of old age. So, that is one segment we left it out.... now we want to fill that gap... we want to do that," he said.