Over 31,500 govt employees opt for UPS till July 20: FinMin
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said as on July 20, 2025, at least 7,253 claims have been received and out of which 4,978 claims have been processed for payment of benefits under UPS.
From April 1, 2025, the government has introduced UPS as an option under the National Pension System (NPS) for the central government employees. UPS will provide assured payouts to the employees.
In reply to a separate question in the House, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said, "as on July 20, 2025, 31,555 employees have opted UPS".
Further, Sitharaman said based on the representations from employees and associations, the cut-off date to opt for UPS was extended for a period of three months up to September 30, 2025.
"As per eligibility criteria, there are 25,756 retired Central Government subscribers eligible to receive additional benefits under UPS," Sitharaman said.
These eligible subscribers are those central government employees who have either superannuated or deceased, or retired under Fundamental Rules 56(j), on or before 31st March 2025, after completing 10 years or more of qualifying service and were covered under NPS, the minister said.
The government has extended the benefit of 'Retirement gratuity and Death gratuity' under UPS. Further, the government employees who opt for UPS under NPS shall also be eligible for option for availing benefits under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 or the CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023, in the event of death of the government servant during service or his discharge on the ground of invalidation or disablement.
The government has also extended tax benefits to UPS as are available to NPS under the Income Tax Act, 1961.
To a question on whether the government proposes to extend such benefits to other pension schemes or sectors in the near future, Sitharaman said, "UPS has been introduced as an option under National Pension System (NPS) for the employees of Central Government who are covered under the NPS. There is no proposal under consideration to extend such benefits to other pension schemes or sector."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
26 minutes ago
- Hans India
Moderate 3% rise in global gold demand
Global gold demand increased three per cent year-on-year to 1,249 tonne during the April-June quarter of the current year, amid a high price environment, World Gold Council (WGC) said in a report on Thursday. Strong gold investment flows largely fuelled quarterly growth, as an increasingly unpredictable geopolitical environment and price momentum sustained demand, according to WGC's Q2/2025 Gold Demand Trends report. 'Gold ETF investment remained a key driver of total demand, with inflows of 170 tonnes over the quarter, compared with small outflows in Q2 2024. Asian-listed funds were major contributors at 70 tonne, keeping pace with US flows. Combined with record inflows in the first quarter, global gold ETF desmand reached 397 tonne, the highest first-half total since 2020,' the report added. Meanwhile, the total bar and coin investment also increased 11 per cent year-on-year, adding 307 tonne. Chinese investors led the way with a 44 per cent year-on-year increase to 115 tonne, while Indian investors continued to add to their holdings, totalling 46 tonne in the second quarter. Divergent trends emerged in Western markets as European net investment more than doubled to 28 tonne, while US bar and coin demand halved to 9 tonne in the second quarter. Central banks continued to buy, adding 166 tonne in the April-June quarter this year, led by Poland, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Despite this deceleration, central bank buying remained at significantly elevated levels due to ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty. 'Our annual central bank survey shows that 95 per cent of reserve managers believe that global central bank gold reserves will increase over the next 12 months,' the report said. Jewellery demand continued to decline, with the volume of consumption down 14 per cent and nearing low levels last seen in 2020 during the Covid pandemic. Jewellery demand in China was down 20 per cent, and Indian demand fell 17 per cent year-on-year. However, in value terms, the global jewellery market increased to a total of $36 billion. 'The overall jewellery has dropped to 341 tonnes but increased in value to about $36 billion, which is interesting. From a Chinese demand perspective, it's down 20 per cent in terms of volume. In by 17 per cent in terms of volume. But again, in terms of value, it's significantly higher than last year,' Sachin Jain, WGC Regional CEO - India, told PTI. Further, the report revealed that the total gold supply increased 3 per cent to 1,249 tonnes, with mine production up marginally to a new second quarter record. Recycling increased 4 per cent year-on-year but stayed relatively subdued considering the high price environment. 'Global markets have navigated a volatile start to the year marked by trade tensions, unpredictable US policy shifts and frequent geopolitical flashpoints.
Hans India
26 minutes ago
- Hans India
SAIL readies Rs 7,500-cr capex for FY26
State-owned steel maker Sail is looking to spend Rs7,500 crore as capex in the ongoing fiscal, 25 per cent higher from FY25, to expand capacities across plants, a senior company official said. SAIL, which is India's largest steel player in public sector, is in expansion mode and working to scale up its overall capacity to 35 million tonne (MnT) by 2030 from a combined 20 MnT capacity of its five integrated plants (ISPs) spread across Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, at an outlay of nearly Rs1 lakh crore. 'Capex last year was close to Rs6,000 crore. And this year, we have kept a target of Rs7,500 crore throughout the year, which is a higher target,' Sail Director, Finance, Ashok Kumar Panda told PTI responding to a question on company's investment plans. The capex has already been approved by the board and SAIL is confident to achieve it by end of the fiscal. In the April-June, SAIL has already spent Rs1,642 crore, which is more than the target set for the first quarter, he said. Sharing details of the expansion plan, Panda said tendering activities are ongoing at IISCO Steel Plant (West Bengal), where a 4.5 MTPA expansion is planned. The plant has a current capacity of 2.5 MT. At Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP), a brownfield expansion plan is in progress to increase output to 3.09 MTPA from current 2.2 MTPA, along with a greenfield expansion. For other plants, expansion plans are under consideration. The expansion plans for Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) in Chhattisgarh, Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand, and Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) in Odisha are being worked out accordingly. When asked about the expectations from the coming quarters for the company, Panda said: 'You already know we reported a multi-fold rise in consolidated net profit (Rs885.93 cr) in Q1 driven by improved operational efficiency, better cash flow and strong growth in sales volume.' Better cashflow has resulted in substantial reduction in borrowings. Sail will work towards that to maintain the momentum in the remaining three quarters as well, the Director said. Sail's saleable steel production (finished steel) during the quarter stood at 4.7 million tonnes as against 4.2 million tonne in the year-ago period, registering a growth of 12 per cent.
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
Startups, regional brands good for business: Nestle India CMD Suresh Narayanan
Startups and regional brands are not only good for providing variety to consumers but also give established players the push to improve their product offerings, Nestle India 's outgoing chairman & managing director Suresh Narayanan said. Stressing on the importance of startups and regional brands operating in small catchment areas, Narayanan said Nestle India is working with startups as part of its accelerator program, to identify their potential and see how to partner with them. "Startups and regional brands are good for the business. They do two things -one, they extend the variety for the consumer, and secondly, they give us additional inspiration for improving, making ourselves faster and smarter," Narayanan told PTI during an interview earlier this week. According to Narayanan, today every brand has to be relevant to Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers, who do not give much importance to the historical relevance of brands. "It goes by what is in it for me, so Maggi noodles have to be relevant to the Gen Z consumer and not simply relevant because my father consumes it. So I think both of these are truths that we have realised as a company and are constantly working on to improve and control the price of our brands so that we do not become irrelevant in the context of the consumption story," he said. Over the last few quarters, big FMCG companies are facing stiff competition in some of the segments, such as food products, personal care etc, from the small regional players, which have become very aggressive with more vigour after softening of inflation. Narayanan, who is hanging up his boots on Thursday, said, "companies which are sustainable and contribute to communicating with the consumers digitally are becoming more favoured. We are accelerating our sustainable journey." According to Narayanan, being a part of a Swiss multinational, sustainability is part of the DNA of the company and an intrinsic part of the corporate journey. "Sustainability, usage of energy, air, Usage of water and usage of packaging have been part of discussion in the boardroom for a long time," he said. Nestle is also working on reducing packaging materials. It has not only reduced 8 to 10% of the packaging materials used but also made it more environmentally friendly. "Sustainability is something that the consumer looks for but the consumer necessarily pays for. It is something that, within the context of how the company chooses to conduct its business and for us, sustainability is an intrinsic part of our corporate journey," he said. Besides sustainability, Narayanan, in his decade-long tenure on the driving seat of Nestle India, also focused on diversity. In his tenure, diversity in the management team doubled to 20%, which across the organisation went up to around 25 per cent, he said. "With great pride, I say that we built a factory in Sanand in Gujarat, which is 45% women, so women in manufacturing," he said. Moreover, almost 30 to 40 differently-abled people are also working in Nestle factories. Moreover, sustainability initiatives have also been incorporated in procurement and sourcing. According to Narayanan, now its entire coffee, milk, and spices are sustainably sourced, and the company has been plastic neutral for the last four years. "So there has been overall progress on sustainability," said Narayanan. Plastic neutrality means balancing the amount of plastic usage. Under this, a company uses an equivalent amount of plastic that is collected and recycled from the environment. Nestle India, which has a revenue of over Rs 20,000 crore, is among the top ten markets of the Swiss food multinational.
