More than 1.36 lakh Western and Central Railway employees to benefit from UPS

Mumbai: More than 1.36 lakh employees of Central Railway and Western Railway are likely to benefit from the newly announced Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) of the Union Government, officials said on Monday.

On Saturday, the Narendra Modi-led Centre approved the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) for central government employees who joined service after January 1, 2004. Employees under National Pension Scheme opting for UPS will be eligible for an assured pension of 50 per cent of the average basic pay drawn over the last 12 months before superannuation; the minimum qualifying service has been kept at 25 years.

Central Railway has 96,039 employees currently, of which 70,778, or 73.69 per cent, are New Pension Scheme subscribers, who will benefit from UPS, said general manager Ram Karan Yadav.

"Out of 96,000 employees of Western Railway, about 66,000, or 70 percent, are New Pension Scheme subscribers. Majority of WR employees will benefit from UPS," informed Ashok Kumar Mishra, the zone's general manager in a media interaction at Churchgate.

Railway officials said since the UPS is not market-linked like the NPS, it will end the uncertainty about the pension amount, which was the main concern of the employees.

In UPS, since the government or employer contribution has increased to 18.5 per cent from existing 14 per cent under NPS, there will be some financial burden on the zonal railways, officials admitted.

The current contribution of Central Railway is Rs 45.5 crores per month for all the employees who are covered under NPS, while it is Rs 42 crore for WR.

Employees will be given the option to choose between NPS and UPS once details are received from the railway board, they added.

The UPS will be implemented from April 1, 2025, and it is expected to benefit 23 lakh Central government employees.