EPFO News: Minimum monthly pension under Employees' Pension Scheme may be increased to ₹3000

According to a report by the major news outlet 'The Economic Times', the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is considering increasing the minimum pension under the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) from the current ₹1000 to ₹3000. These reports of a pension hike have emerged after the venue for the 240th meeting of the EPFO's Central Board of Trustees (CBT) was shifted from Gir, Gujarat, to New Delhi. This important meeting is scheduled to be held on November 19, 2026.

As per The Economic Times report, a letter was sent to the CBT members by Regional PF Commissioner Subrata Bhowmick on November 4, 2026. According to this letter, the meeting will be held at the EPFO headquarters in New Delhi at 10:15 AM on November 19, 2026. After the change in the venue of the CBT meeting, reports began circulating that the proposal to increase the minimum EPS pension might be discussed at the meeting. Media reports claim that the Ministry of Labour has reached a decision on this proposal after consultations with the Ministry of Finance.

This report further claims that the issue of the minimum EPS pension is likely to be placed as a separate agenda in the November 19 meeting. However, according to the Economic Times report, even though this proposal is being considered, no official announcement has been made by the Ministry of Labour and Employment or the Ministry of Finance regarding this. The minimum EPS pension has remained fixed at ₹1000 since February 2014.

Looking at the background details, the proposal to increase the minimum EPS pension to ₹1000 was approved by the CBT in February 2014. Subsequently, it was announced by the then Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2014-15, and in August 2014, the government issued a notification for the pension amount of ₹1000. For a long time, employee and pensioner organizations across the country have been continuously demanding that the minimum EPS pension be increased to at least ₹7500. The organizations state that the current minimum pension of ₹1000 is not enough to make ends meet.

EPFO provides a fixed pension under the EPS scheme. In this, the minimum pension is ₹1000, but there is no upper limit fixed for it. The pension amount depends on the employee's pensionable service and their salary. In September of this year, the wage ceiling for the calculation of EPS pension was increased from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000. Since this increase in the wage ceiling, the demand for increasing the minimum pension by employee and pensioner groups has been gaining momentum. The current EPS scheme is governed by the 2026 EPS Scheme.

According to Wikipedia and background information, the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) is a social security initiative under the EPFO, designed to provide lifelong pension support to organized sector employees after retirement. The employer contributes 8.33 percent of the employee's basic salary or ₹2083, whichever is lower, to the EPS fund every month. There is no maximum pension limit under EPS; it depends on the current wage ceiling of ₹25,000 and the pensionable service.