Mandaviya Announces Successful Pilot Run of New Centralized Pension Payments System Under EPS Scheme

In a significant step toward modernizing India’s pension disbursement system, the Union Minister of Labour & Employment and Youth Affairs & Sports, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, announced the successful pilot run of the new Centralized Pension Payments System (CPPS) under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) 1995. This new system aims to streamline and enhance pension services, creating a more efficient and accessible pension infrastructure.

The CPPS pilot was conducted on October 29 and 30, 2024, disbursing approximately Rs 11 crore in pensions for October to over 49,000 pensioners in the Jammu, Srinagar, and Karnal regions. Dr. Mandaviya emphasized that the CPPS will provide pensioners with greater flexibility by allowing them to access their pensions from any bank, any branch, anywhere in the country. This change, he noted, is part of a broader commitment to transform the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) into a “more robust, responsive, and tech-enabled organization.”

Unlike the previous decentralized system, where regional EPFO offices maintained agreements with only a handful of banks, CPPS introduces a unified, nationwide platform that eliminates the need for pensioners to visit a specific bank branch for verification. Now, pensions will be directly credited to the pensioners' accounts upon release, making the process simpler and more efficient.

One of the most significant benefits of CPPS is that it removes the burden of transferring Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) when pensioners relocate or change banks. This feature is expected to greatly benefit retirees who move to their hometowns or change branches, ensuring their pension continuity without any additional paperwork or delays.

The full rollout of CPPS is scheduled for January 2025 as part of EPFO's Centralized IT Enabled System (CITES 2.01), aiming to serve over 78 lakh EPS pensioners nationwide.

This new system represents a pivotal reform in the EPFO’s ongoing efforts to leverage technology for service enhancement and promises to bring a much-needed relief to India’s pensioners.