Why did the political system in the country react to these two decisions of the Modi government in a diametrically opposite manner? asks A K Bhattacharya.
Pension plans purport to provide for an individual at a stage when he/she is presumed to be inept of earning his/her livelihood. Hence the savings need to be planned, managed and executed with an extra degree of caution.
Your EPF isn't just a retirement pot. It's a financial safety net you can dip into for life's biggest needs. Here's how these one-time advances work and when to use them wisely.
The government has reduced the stipulated period for settlement of various claims like PF withdrawal, pension and insurance by the retirement fund body EPFO to 20 days from the existing 30 days.
'When we say we want to increase pension participation, do we want to increase participation through the savings route?' 'Or do we want people to save in specific pension products?' asks Renuka Sane.
At present, workers whose basic wage at the time of joining is up to Rs 6,500 per month.
The RBI advisory follows a labour ministry request earlier this year seeking the central bank's expertise to identify gaps in EPFO's investment strategy and fund management practices, including accounting, risk management, and internal governance.
The decision to suspend this benefit will hit 32 lakh pensioners.
Before opting for this scheme, consider how EPS is calculated.
In their first step towards introducing a pension scheme based on defined contribution, public sector banks have in-principle decided to introduce such a scheme for new recruits in the officer cadre.
The 100 per cent withdrawal provision and the 25 per cent minimum balance provision have led to some confusion.
The reduction in goods & services tax (GST) on individual life and health insurance premiums has been called a "landmark step" for making insurance affordable and inclusive. In a panel discussion at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2025, Anup Bagchi, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance; Mahesh Balasubramanian, MD & CEO of Kotak Life Insurance; Tarun Chugh, MD & CEO of Bajaj Life Insurance; and Ratnakar Patnaik, MD of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), listed what else the industry needs to reach more people.
'Younger employees, who tend to have a higher risk appetite, will find NPS advantageous due to the potential gains from equity markets over time.'
A formal sector worker can contribute towards pension scheme till the age of 58.
Six firms have qualified for managing EPFO funds.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the government will arrange identity cards and registration on the e-Shram portal to assist 1 crore gig workers. Presenting the Union Budget 2025-26, the finance minister also said a scheme for the socio-economic upliftment of urban workers will be implemented.
Goyal also announced hiking of tax free gratuity to Rs 30 lakh from existing Rs 20 lakh for employees having service of more than five years.
As of now, foreign employees applying for withdrawal of provident funds are required to open bank accounts in India.
The much-awaited minimum monthly pension of Rs 1,000 and a higher wage ceiling of Rs 15,000 for social security schemes run by retirement fund manager EPFO will be implemented from September 1.
All that you wanted to know about the new pension scheme and pension fund managers.
Those who get less than Rs 1,000 a month include 22 lakh (2.2 million) member pensioners and 5 lakh widows as on March 31, 2013.
The tribunal passed the order while hearing a bunch of petitions from the employees of Delhi Transport Corporation, seeking pension from the corporation which was denied to them after they had opted for VRS between 1993 and 1995.
Ask rediffGURU and tax expert Mihir Tanna your income tax-related questions.
The UPA government's decision to ensure a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 a month under the retirement fund body EPFO's scheme, which will immediately benefit 28 lakh pensioners, is going to be a reality soon.
All those years of contributions not adding up to a big reward definitely makes the scheme unappealing.
Addressing the nation on the 70th Independence Day from the Red Fort, the prime minister had announced a 20 per cent hike in the pension for freedom fighters.
The proposal has been discussed by Sebi's Committee on Rationalisation of Financial Resources, which favours setting up such a fund.
The government on Saturday announced a string of measures, including a pension for dependents of those having lost their lives due to COVID-19, among other benefits for the families who lost their earning members to the pandemic.
The BJP also announced a Rs 5 meal scheme for all, named after religious guru Anukul Chandra, and setting up of a Regional Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in Agartala.
The report mentioned that the government spends 2.2 per cent of the GDP on pension bill.
Rajasthan is reeling under a huge financial burden with the state's debt having gone beyond Rs 5.59 lakh crores. Rajasthan has increased expenditure on education by 203.4 percent, by 105.4 percent on health, by 227.14 percent on housing. Its expenditure on social welfare schemes has increased by almost 2,475 per cent.
'Government officials use Gmail and ordinary phones without basic security consciousness.' 'Interoperability, especially in joint exercises with countries like the US, worries me.' 'It often means we open our systems to them, but they don't reciprocate.' 'They could have kill switches in their systems and might even be able to affect ours.'
The retirement fund body EPFO is likely to announce the rate of interest on employees' provident fund (EPF) deposits for 2022-23 at its two-day meeting beginning Monday. EPFO had lowered the interest on EPF for 2021-22 to an over four-decade low of 8.1 per cent for its about five crore subscribers, from 8.5 per cent in 2020-21 in March 2022. This was the lowest since 1977-78, when the EPF interest rate stood at 8 per cent.
With EPFO capping the contributions to your pension scheme, you could look at other pension plans.
'We have created massive infrastructure in the past six years.'
The long-awaited Pension Bill to set up a regulator and manage the new pension scheme for government employees is likely to come up before Parliament in the forthcoming session beginning May 10.
A few days after the Cabinet cleared the new pension scheme for government employees, Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma on Wednesday expressed concerns over it, even as he said his ministry had no objection to the proposed scheme.
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