Centre approves wage, pension revisions for PSGICs, NABARD

New Delhi, Jan 24: The Centre on Friday said it has approved the long-pending wage revision for Public Sector General Insurance companies (PSGICs) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

The government also approved pension revision for retirees of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and NABARD. A total of about 46,322 employees, 23,570 pensioners and 23,260 family pensioners across these organisations will benefit from these revisions.

“The wage revision for the employees of PSGICs will be effective from 01.08.2022. The overall hike in wage bill shall be 12.41 per cent with an increase of 14 per cent on existing Basic pay and Dearness allowance. A total of 43,247 PSGIC employees will benefit from this revision,” said Finance Ministry in a statement.

The revision also incorporates an enhancement in NPS contribution from 10 per cent to 14 per cent for a better future of employees who had joined after 01.04.2010. Family pension has been revised at the uniform rate of 30 per cent from the date of publication in the official gazette, which will benefit 14,615 family pensioners — out of a total of 15,582 existing family pensioners.

The total outgo will be Rs 8,170.30 crore (Rs 5,822.68 crore towards the arrears of wage revision, Rs 250.15 crore for NPS and Rs 2,097.47 crore for family pension). The PSGICs include National Insurance Company Ltd. (NICL), New India Assurance Company Ltd. (NIACL), Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. (OICL), United India Insurance Company Ltd.

(UIICL), General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), and Agricultural Insurance Company Ltd. (AICIL). According to the government, effective from November 1, 2022, the hike in pay and allowances is about 20 per cent for all Group ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ employees in NABARD. It would benefit around 3,800 serving and former employees.

“Basic pension/family pension to retirees of NABARD, who were originally recruited by NABARD and retired before 1st November, 2017, have now been brought on par with that of ex-RBI NABARD retirees,” it added. The pay revision entails an additional annual wage bill of around Rs 170 crore and total payment of arrears amounting to around Rs 510 crore.

Pension revision would result in a one-time arrear payment of Rs 50.82 crore as well as an additional Rs. 3.55 crore outgo in pension payments every month to 269 pensioners and 457 family pensioners in NABARD.

Moreover, the government has approved the revision of pension and family pension to the retirees of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Under the approved revision, pension and family pension shall be enhanced by 10 per cent on basic pension plus dearness relief, with effect from 1st November, 2022.

This would result in an effective enhancement of basic pension by a factor of 1.43 for all retirees, leading to a substantial improvement in their monthly pension. The revision will benefit a total of 30,769 beneficiaries, comprising 22,580 pensioners and 8,189 family pensioners.

“The total financial implication is estimated at Rs 2,696.82 crore, which includes a one-time expenditure of Rs 2,485.02 crore towards arrears and a recurring annual expenditure of Rs 211.80 crore,” said Finance Ministry.