7th Pay Commission latest news: Modi government allows one-time switch from NPS; here is why you should opt for old pension scheme

7th Pay Commission: The Narendra Modi Government decided to allow Central Government Employees to use one-time switch option from the National Pension System (NPS) to o get coverage of CCS Pension Rules 1972. The switch option is available to those central government employees whose selection was finalised before January 1, 2004, but who joined service after the said date. But, after announcement of the switch option from NPS to OPS (Old Pension Scheme) a debate has been going on, which pension option is better for the central government employees — NPS or OPS.

Speaking on NPS versus OPS; SEBI registered tax and investment expert Jitendra Solanki said, "NPS is an annuity plan which is not fixed. It is not linked with the salary of the central government employee and in this pension scheme, one's pension is not defined. But, in the old pension scheme, your pension is linked with your salary and it addresses the inflation as well. Most importantly, in old pension scheme, your pension is defined and you are sure about your pension as it is fixed and defined. So, in my opinion, it's better to go for the old pension scheme rather continuing with the NPS."

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Suggesting Central Government Employees to switch to OPS from existing NPS; another SEBI registered tax and investment expert Manikaran Singhal said, "One should switch to OPS from NPS and buy an NPS additionally like any other EPS account holders are doing. In that case the Central Government employees will be able to reap the benefits of both OPS and NPS and in addition they will be able to claim income tax exemption on up to Rs 50,000 investment in NPS, which is beyond 1.5 lakh tax exemption limit under Section 80C of the Income Tax." He said that after the implementation of 7th Pay Commission, Section 80C exemption limit of Rs 1.5 is not enough for the central government employees. So, in this one-time switch option, central government employees will be able to kill multiple sparrows with single arrow.

After the introduction of National Pension System (NPS), all central government employees (except armed forces) appointed on or after 1st January 2004 are mandatory covered under the NPS. The Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 and other connected rules were also amended and were not applicable to the Government employees appointed to Government service after 31 December 2003. However, the government had received representations from the Government employees appointed on or after 1st January 2004 requesting for the benefit of the pension scheme under Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 on the ground that their appointment was delayed on account of administrative reasons or lapses.