NEW DELHI: The committee headed by Finance Secretary TV Somanathan on Wednesday held a high-level meeting with the representatives from six states to get their suggestions for the changes in the national pension scheme (NPS) for the government employees, according to sources.
The representatives from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Mizoram and Rajasthan already took place in a couple of meetings since the pension committee was formed in April.
" Today ( June 28), the representatives of six states were called for their viewpoints. The next meeting will likely take place next month,” a top government source said.
He further added that this year only the decision on the revision of the pension scheme will be implemented.
“After the report submission, the changes suggested will go for Cabinet approval and then Parliamentary approval will be required. By the end of this year, we are expecting that the changes will be implemented,” the official said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in April had set up a committee under Somanathan after many non-BJP-ruled states said they would revert to the old pension scheme. The other members of the committee include the Chairman of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDAI), the Secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the special secretary of the Department of Expenditure.
According to the terms of reference of the committee, it would recommend measures to modify the changes in the pension scheme for government employees while keeping in view the fiscal implications and impact on overall budgetary space.
Several non-BJP states have decided to go back to the old scheme, which is linked to dearness allowance (DA), as it guarantees a fixed pension of 50% of an employee’s last drawn salary without any contribution from their own pay. Meanwhile, in the current pension scheme, employees have to contribute 10% of their basic salary and the government contributes 14%. The final payout depends on market returns on that corpus, which is mostly invested in government securities.