Defence Ministry signs MoUs to onboard four banks as SPARSH service centres

The Defence Accounts Department (DAD), which functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence will onboard the Bank of India, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank to provide the last mile connectivity to the pensioners.

According to the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed in Delhi, the web-based SPARSH [System for Pension Administration (Raksha)] Service Centres will be available across 1,128 branches of the four banks across the country.

Implemented by the Ministry in 2021, the SPARSH system is an integrated system for the automation of sanctions and disbursement of defence pensions. 

Pensioner Portal provides a single window for pensioners to avail the pension-related services such as a facility to view pension details, pension entitlements, pensioner profile details, Income Tax forms etc.

This web-based system processes pension claims and credits pensions directly into the bank accounts of defence pensioners without relying on any external intermediary.

These Service Centres will become an interface for pensioners for SPARSH, providing an effective medium to update their profile; register grievances; digital annual identification; and data verification, besides fetching detailed information regarding their monthly pension, the ministry said in a release on Wednesday.

Access to these centres would be provided free of cost, with nominal service charges being borne by DAD.

With these MoUs, SPARSH Services would now be available at over 26,000 branches of a total of 15 banks across the country. 

This is in addition to 199 dedicated service centres of DAD, and more than 3.75 lakh Common Service Centers across the country.