NEW DELHI: In a major relief to the employees of public sector banks (PSBs), the government has decided to remove the cap on pensions and announced that the family of deceased employees will be entitled to a uniform slab of 30% on the pensioner’s last drawn salary.
With this, the minimum monthly pension that the family of a deceased bank employee can receive is Rs 10,791, a 59% jump over the earlier amount of Rs 6,781. The maximum monthly pension has now trebled from Rs 16,973 to Rs 49,455.
Previously, there were slabs of 15%, 20% and 30% on pensions with an upper cap. Because of this cap, at the present maximum basic family pension for the family of deceased officers including families of the deceased General Manager is Rs 13,282 per month (Total family pension is Rs 16,973 including DA) while the family of a sub staff gets a maximum of Rs 5,306 as basic family pension (total family pension of Rs 6,781 including applicable DA).
Because of the hike, the incremental provision towards the Family pension as per the actuarial estimate is Rs 20,302.90 crore.
“The Government has approved the Indian Banks’ Association’s (IBA) proposal to increase the family pension to 30% of the last salary drawn,” Debasish Panda, secretary, Department of Financial Service told reporters on Wednesday. He was talking to the media after the performance review meeting of PSBs. The employer contribution to NPS has also been hiked to 14% from 10%.