New Delhi: As many as 1,22,123 central government employees, including new joinees, existing employees, and past retirees, have opted for the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) as of November 30, 2025, Parliament was informed on Monday.
The government has allowed the central government employees, who opted for UPS, a one-time one-way switch facility to revert to NPS any time during their service, subject to some conditions, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
This facility of one-time one-way switch will not be allowed in case of removal, dismissal or compulsory retirement as a penalty or for cases where disciplinary proceedings are ongoing or contemplated, he said.UPS came into effect on April 1, 2025. The window for exercising the option to opt for UPS was initially available up to June 30, 2025. This timeline was subsequently extended first up to September 30, 2025, and thereafter further extended up to November 30, 2025.
The government has notified the Central Civil Services (Implementation of the Unified Pension Scheme under the National Pension System) Rules, 2025, to regulate the service-related matters of central government employees who opted for UPS under the National Pension System. For a minimum qualifying service of 25 years, assured payout at a rate of 50 per cent of the average basic pay drawn over the last 12 months prior to superannuation shall be payable, Chaudhary said.
This payout is to be proportionate for a lesser service period, subject to a minimum of 10 years of service, he added. Further, he said, after a minimum qualifying service of 10 years, an assured minimum payout of Rs 10,000 per month on superannuation shall be payable. Family payout will be 60 per cent of the total admissible amount to the pension holder. It will be paid to the legally wedded spouse, and children are not entitled to receive 60 per cent of the assured family payout under UPS, he said.
Replying to another question, Chaudhary said the gross non-performing assets (NPA) of public sector banks (PSBs) reduced from 7 per cent in 2020-21 to 2 per cent in 2024-25, thereby showing the significant improvement in asset quality of education loans over the years. Credit-related matters of regulated entities (REs) are largely deregulated, and the same are governed by the Board-approved loan policies of the REs framed under the ambit of relevant regulatory and statutory requirements and terms and conditions of the loan agreement between the borrower and the RE, he said.
The RBI has advised the banks to put in place a Board-approved loan policy, and they shall take credit-related decisions as per the said policy, subject to the guiding principles of regulations, he added. Moreover, he said, the PM Vidyalaxmi scheme was launched on November 6, 2024, which enables loans through banks to meritorious students so that financial constraints do not prevent any youth of India from pursuing quality higher education.
The scheme facilitates and enables education loans to meritorious students who get admission in the top Quality Higher Educational Institutions (QHEIs) in the country and enables meritorious students of these QHEIs to take collateral-free, guarantor-free education loans through a simple, transparent, student-friendly application process, the minister noted.
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