The Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) is introduced by the Central Government as an option under the National Pension System (NPS) for Central Government employees with effect from 1st April 2025. The UPS provides assured pay-out based on the prescribed conditions.

Yes, an existing Central Government employee in service as of 1 April 2025, who are covered under National Pension System (NPS) is eligible to opt for UPS.

Yes, a newly recruited Central Government employees joining service on or after 1 April 2025 is eligible to opt for UPS.

Yes, a Central Government employee who was covered under NPS retired on or before 31st March 2025 and who meets prescribed conditions i.e.

(i) Who has superannuated after minimum 10 years of qualifying service or 

(ii) Has retired under Fundamental Rules 56(j) (which is not treated as penalty under Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965), on or before 31st March 2025, or

(iii) The legally wedded spouse as on date of superannuation/retirement of deceased subscriber eligible under UPS.

The forms A1, A2, along with the instructions and list of documents to be attached can be downloaded from the website of the Protean CRA at, www.npscra.nsdl.co.in/ups.php

Option has to be exercised within three (03) months from 1st April 2025, or within such extended timelines if any, allowed by the Central Government.

Option has to be exercised within three (03) months from 1st April 2025, or within such extended timelines if any, allowed by the Central Government.

Option has to be exercised within three (03) months from 1st April 2025, or within such extended timelines if any, allowed by the Central Government.

Option has to be exercised within thirty (30) days from the date of joining Central Government services or within such extended timelines, if any, allowed by the Central Government.

No, once exercised, the option to choose UPS is final and irrevocable.

An eligible person, who does not exercise the UPS option under NPS within the timelines laid down shall be deemed to have opted to continue under NPS without UPS option.

PRAN is a Permanent Retirement Account Number allocated to subscriber opening/opting for UPS, and under which all the transactions are recorded by the CRA system.

Identity and address proof are the key KYC documents. Any one of the following to be submitted:

The form can be submitted online or physically to the Head of Office / DDO where the subscriber is employed. Subscribers are advised to retain the acknowledgement slip signed/stamped by the designated respective nodal office where they submit the application.

Yes, subscriber can submit their request for enrolment online by filing required forms through CRA website. Once it is submitted, the form goes to the DDO and then to PAO for verification.

Employment Details (At the time of exercise of UPS option)

i. Date of joining

ii. Date of Superannuation

iii. Date of commencement of qualifying service

iv. Employee Code/ID

v. Basic Pay

vi. Pay Scale (Optional)

vii. Name of the office viii. Department

ix. Ministry

x. DDO Registration Number

xi. PAO / CDDO / Pr.AO Registration Number.

Qualifying service shall be the completed months for which UPS subscriber has rendered regular services under the Central Government, determined by the Head of Office, in terms of Regulation 13 of the PFRDA (Operationalization of Unified Pension Scheme under National Pension System) Regulations, 2025.

Through the online system of the CRA.

The Subscriber can obtain the status of his/her application from CRA and respective Nodal Office.

Yes, subscribers of UPS can voluntarily maintain NPS Tier-I and Tier-II accounts under "All Citizen Model" along with UPS as a separate account within same PRAN number.

The monthly contribution of employee will be 10% of (basic pay + DA) along with matching contribution by employer, is to be credited to each employee’s PRAN through the concerned nodal office.

Further, an estimated 8.5%contribution towards Pool Corpus shall be paid by Central Government, on aggregate basis.

On migration from NPS to UPS, the corpus of the subscriber will get transferred to the PRAN tagged to UPS.

On migration from NPS to UPS, the subscriber shall be identified by the erstwhile PRAN tagged to UPS.

Individual Corpus means the value of corpus available in the PRAN of a subscriber under UPS.

Benchmark Corpus is a notional value computed by CRA for comparison with individual corpus. It is based on NAV of the default investment. (For more details, Regulation 12 and Illustrations in Schedules to the Regulations, may be referred).

The government contributes an estimated 8.5% towards a Pool Corpus based on aggregate employee data. The Pool Corpus shall comprise of -

i. additional Central Government contribution at an estimated eight and half percent of Basic Pay (including non-practicing allowance, wherever applicable) plus Dearness Allowance, on aggregate basis of all employees who have chosen the UPS option;

ii. transfer of balance from the individual corpus of a subscriber as per regulation 19 (3); and

iii. any other contribution defined by the Central Government.

The Pool Corpus shall be allocated to such pension fund(s) as determined by the Central Government, who shall invest the funds in accordance with the investment pattern and related aspects thereto, as approved by the Central Government.

Yes, employees can choose from registered pension funds and investment patterns, including default patterns defined by PFRDA.

In such cases, the employee will be assigned the default pension fund and investment pattern defined by PFRDA.

i. Option to invest hundred percent of the funds in Government securities (Scheme G); or

ii. Option of any one of the following Life Cycle based schemes:

(a) Conservative Life Cycle Fund with maximum exposure to equity capped at twenty- five percent. LC-25; or

(b) Moderate Life Cycle Fund with maximum exposure to equity capped at fifty percent. LC-50.

UPS Subscriber shall have an option to change

• the choice of pension fund once in a financial year and
• investment choice twice in a financial year.

Benchmark corpus shall be computed in the following manner :

(i) Partial withdrawals made out of individual corpus and voluntary contributions made into the individual corpus shall not be considered in the computation.

(ii) For contributions received prior to 1st April, 2025: monthly contributions shall be considered as and when they have been received and be valued on default pattern.

(iii) For contributions received on or after 1st April, 2025:

• monthly contributions which are to be received in that month, shall be considered as and when received during the month and valued on default pattern.
• In the event of any missing contribution in any month, value shall be based on the weighted average NAV of default pattern as on the last working day of the month applied to monthly contributions of previous full month.

(iv) Contributions arising from arrears, such as arrears of Dearness Allowance shall be considered and valued on the default pattern as and when they are received.

Yes, CRA will provide details of the individual corpus and benchmark corpus in the PRAN account statement periodically.

• The rate of full assured payout will be @50% of 12 monthly average basic pay, immediately prior to superannuation, payable after a minimum 25 years of qualifying service.

• In case of lesser qualifying service period, proportionate payout would be admissible.

• A minimum guaranteed payout of Rs. 10,000 per month shall be assured in case superannuation is after 10 years or more of qualifying service subject to timely and regular credit of contributions and no withdrawals.

• In cases of voluntary retirement after a minimum 25 years of qualifying service, assured payout will commence from the date on which the employee would have superannuated if he had continued in service.

                       Assured Payout = (½ of P) × (Q/300)

• P = Average of Basic Pay for the last 12 months before retirement.

• Q = Number of qualifying service months.

If Q is:

• Less than 120 months → UPS benefits do not apply.

• More than 300 months → Q is capped at 300 months.

In cases of voluntary retirement after a minimum 25 years of qualifying service, assured payout will commence from the date on which the employee would have superannuated if he had continued in service.

A minimum guaranteed payout of Rs. 10,000 per month is guaranteed after completing 10 years of service.

Yes, in case of Qualifying service period of ten years or more, but less than twenty-five years, proportionate payout shall be payable.

Assured payout shall be proportionately reduced in any or both of the following cases –

a) Individual corpus is less than the benchmark corpus as on the date of superannuation or voluntary retirement or retirement under Fundamental Rules 56(j), as may be applicable; Page 8 of 14

b) Final withdrawal not exceeding sixty percent of the individual corpus, as opted by a subscriber. The assured payout so proportionately reduced shall be payable as admissible payout.

The assured payout so proportionately reduced shall be payable as admissible payout. The formula for calculating admissible payout is as under:

Admissible Payout = Assured Payout x IC/BC x (1-FW%), where, IC= value of Individual Corpus, BC= value of Benchmark Corpus, with condition of IC ≤ BC.

FW= Final withdrawal in percentage points (maximum upto sixty percent of IC or BC, whichever is lower).

Upon demise of a UPS Subscriber who was receiving admissible payout or top-up amount, as the case may be, the legally wedded spouse as on date of superannuation/retirement of such deceased subscriber shall receive for life, family pay out of sixty percent of the amount of the admissible payout or top-up amount drawn by the subscriber immediately prior to the demise.

Yes, the legally wedded spouse shall be eligible to receive the benefits payable to deceased subscriber till the date of his/her demise. Thereafter, the spouse shall be eligible for family pay out of sixty percent of the amount eligible to be received by such subscriber immediately prior to the demise.

Employee who complies with the requirements under regulation 4 and regulation 19 shall be eligible to receive the following benefits –

a) lumpsum payment;

b) monthly top-up amounts payable immediately after the date of superannuation or retirement;

c) applicable dearness relief; and

d) simple interest as per applicable Public Provident Fund rates on arrears with respect to above benefits for the past period from the month after superannuation up to the month preceding the submission of claim forms.

Further, no interest shall be payable for the period beyond the last date of submission of option or claim as per clause (ii) of regulation 3.

The benefits specified under sub-regulation (1) shall be in addition to the benefits availed or accrued to such employee under NPS including annuity, if any under NPS.

Such employees will receive monthly top-up amount, which will be calculated as follows: Monthly top-up = (Admissible Payout + Dearness Relief on Admissible Payout)- Representative Annuity amount.

Representative Annuity rates for the period from January 2014 to March 2025 are provided under Schedule VI of PFRDA (Operationalization of Unified Pension Scheme under National Pension System) Regulations, 2025.

Representative annuity amount= (IC) x (1-FW%) *(Representative Annuity Rate)/ (12*100). In case IC is greater than BC, IC shall be taken as equal to BC.

Table- 1 (UPS subscriber who superannuated/retired on or before 31/03/2025)

 
Table- 2 (UPS subscriber who superannuated/retired on or after 01/04/2025)

Assured Payout shall be available only in the following cases, namely: -

(a) In case of an employee superannuating after qualifying service of 10 years, from the date of superannuation;

(b) In case of the Government retiring an employee under the provisions of FR 56 (j) (which is not a penalty under Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965) from the date of such retirement; and

(c) In case of voluntary retirement after a minimum qualifying service period of 25 years, from the date such employee would have superannuated, if the service period had continued to superannuation.

Only the legally wedded spouse as on date of superannuation/retirement of the deceased UPS subscriber whose name appears as such in the service records as on the date of superannuation or voluntary retirement or retirement under Fundamental Rules 56(j), as may be applicable, and who is surviving the deceased subscriber is eligible for claiming family payout under UPS.

No, only the legally wedded spouse as on date of superannuation/retirement is eligible for family payout.

Yes, a lump-sum amount equivalent to one-tenth of the last drawn basic pay (plus NPA and DA) is paid for every completed 6-month period of qualifying service.

Lumpsum Payment = (E/10) x L, where; Emoluments (E) = {Basic Pay (including non-practicing allowance, if applicable) + DA} Length of service (L) = number of completed six months of qualifying service as certified by Head of Office.

Explanation: For the purpose of calculation of every completed six months of qualifying service, any period less than six months shall not be considered.

Yes, UPS Subscriber shall have an option of final withdrawal for an amount not exceeding sixty percent (60%) of the individual corpus or benchmark corpus, whichever is lower, available in the PRAN tagged to UPS as on the date of superannuation or voluntary retirement or retirement, subject to proportionate reduction in the assured payout payable to such UPS Subscriber.

UPS Subscriber shall also have an option to withdraw an amount not exceeding sixty percentage of the individual corpus or benchmark corpus, whichever is lower, available in the PRAN tagged to UPS as on the date of superannuation or voluntary retirement or retirement under Fundamental Rules 56(j), as may be applicable subject to proportionate reduction in the assured payout payable to such UPS Subscriber.

Final withdrawal of up to 60% of the individual corpus or benchmark corpus (whichever is lower) is allowed as on date of Superannuation or Voluntary retirement or retirement under 56(j).

Such final withdrawal shall be admissible on the date of superannuation or voluntary retirement or retirement under Fundamental Rules 56(j).

Dearness Relief as declared by the Central Government from time to time, will be applicable on admissible payout and family payout. Dearness Relief shall be payable only when admissible payout commences.

No, Assured Payout shall not be available in case of removal or dismissal from service or resignation of the employee. In such cases, the Unified Pension Scheme option shall not apply.

Yes, partial withdrawals up to 25% of self-contribution (excluding returns) are allowed after completion of lock-in period of three years from the date of enrolment under UPS or NPS whichever is earlier, for specified purposes.

Higher education of children, marriage of children, purchase/construction of residential house, medical emergencies, disability-related expenses, and skill development.

A maximum of three times, including withdrawals made under NPS before opting for UPS.

Yes, the subscriber has the option to replenish the partially withdrawn amount before retirement.

The subscriber or legally wedded spouse as on date of superannuation/retirement of the subscriber, as the case may be, must submit the relevant application forms to the Head of Office or DDO.

The UPS Payout order contains the details of the benefits payable to a UPS Subscriber.

The UPO shall be authorized by the respective PAO and sent to the National Pension System Trust through CRA.

A copy of such UPS Payout Order shall simultaneously be made available to the UPS Subscriber or the legally wedded spouse as on date of superannuation/retirement, as the case may be.

a) Upon receipt of UPS Payout Order by National Pension System Trust together with option of final withdrawal if any by the UPS subscriber, the National Pension System Trust shall authorize the release of UPS benefits as specified under these regulations and authorise the transfer of the balance in the individual corpus to pool corpus.

b) The National Pension System Trust shall ensure payment of monthly payout from the Pool Corpus to the bank account of the UPS subscriber and periodic release of applicable dearness relief. For this purpose, CRA shall intimate to the pension fund to effect redemption from the Pool Corpus for payment of such payout to the subscriber.

a) requisite details of UPS Subscriber including particulars of legally wedded spouse as on date of superannuation/retirement of such subscriber as appearing in the service records;

b) the period of qualifying service;

c) Details of joint bank account of the UPS Subscriber and legally wedded spouse as on date of superannuation/retirement;

d) Percentage of final withdrawal upto sixty percent of individual corpus or benchmark corpus, whichever is lower, as opted by UPS Subscriber;

e) Details of benefits applicable under UPS as specified under these regulations, such as:

i. lumpsum payment;

ii. excess, if any, of individual corpus vis-à-vis benchmark corpus

iii. assured payout;

iv. admissible payout;

v. Top-up amount (applicable for retirees on or after 31.03.2025)

vi. family payout;

vii. applicable dearness relief.

f) the date of commencement of admissible payout to subscriber.

NPS Trust shall authorize release of benefits upon receipt of UPS Payout Order. Further, the NPS Trust shall ensure payment of monthly payout from the Pool Corpus to the bank account of the UPS Subscriber and periodic release of applicable dearness relief.

a) The CRA shall make available the details of partial withdrawals made if any, by superannuated or retired employee, and value of individual corpus and benchmark corpus as on the date of superannuation or retirement to DDO and PAO in their CRA system login.

b) The DDO shall update the records in CRA system after obtaining necessary details, if required from Head of Office and forward the same to PAO for its authorization in such system.

c) Based on the verification of subscriber details by Head of Office, the PAO shall issue a UPS Payout order, as per Form B1, B3 or B5, as applicable, containing details as specified under regulation 20.

d) Upon receipt of UPS Payout Order by National Pension System Trust together with option of final withdrawal if any by the UPS subscriber, the National Pension System Trust shall authorise the release of UPS benefits as specified under these regulations and authorise the transfer of the balance in the individual corpus to pool corpus. The National Pension System Trust shall ensure payment of monthly payout from the Pool Corpus to the bank account of the UPS subscriber and periodic release of applicable dearness relief. For this purpose, CRA shall intimate to the pension fund to effect redemption from the Pool Corpus for payment of such payout to the subscriber.