Plan afoot to revamp pension scheme for unorganised workers

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Labour and Employment plans to tweak its flagship pension scheme for unorganised workers, the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Scheme (PM-SYM), to enhance coverage.

The changes under consideration include extending the enrolment age to beyond the current limit of 40 years, enhancing the wage ceiling to more than Rs 15,000 and roping in the India Post Payments Bank and other financial institutions to do enrolments other than the common service centres, people aware of the deliberations told ET.

Also, work is ongoing to club the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, which provides a disability and death cover of up to Rs 2 lakh, and the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, a term-insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh, with the pension scheme for comprehensive benefit.


A revamped scheme could be put in place by March 2025.

"The ministry is considering various changes to make the scheme more holistic and attractive for the unorganised workers as part of its plan to provide universal social security to all," one of the people said on the condition of anonymity. "Extending both the entry age and the wage ceiling will help bring more unorganised workers under the scheme," the person said.The idea is to introduce changes which can help extend coverage to more workers and reduce the waiting time for workers to get their pension. There has been a massive slowdown in enrolments under the scheme that has also seen many workers exiting it. Government data show enrolments went up sharply in the first year of the launch of the scheme in 2019, from 1.76 million in March 2019 to 4.30 million in March 2020.

As on November 4, 2024, enrolments totalled 4.55 million, after touching an all-time high of 4.99 million in April this year.

PM-SYM is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme on a 50:50 basis where the prescribed age-specific contribution is made by the beneficiary and a matching contribution is made by the central government.