The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has fully rolled out the new Centralized Pension Payments System (CPPS) under Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995, the Labour Ministry said in a statement on January 3.
The first pilot of Centralized Pension Payment System (CPPS) was successfully completed in October, 2024 in Karnal, Jammu and Srinagar Regional Offices with the pension disbursement of about Rs 11 Crore to more than 49,000 EPS Pensioners. The second pilot was taken up in November 2024 in 24 Regional Offices in which around Rs 213 crore pension was disbursed to more than 9.3 lakh pensioners.
About Rs 1,570 crore pension was disbursed to more than 68 lakh pensioners pertaining to all 122 pension disbursing regional offices of EPFO for December 2024.
Announcing the successful rollout, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, “The full-scale implementation of the Centralized Pension Payments System (CPPS) across all Regional Offices of EPFO is a historic milestone. This transformative initiative empowers pensioners to access their pension seamlessly from any bank, any branch, anywhere in the country.”
How will Centralized Pension Payment System help pensioners?
This rollout eliminates the need for physical verification visits and simplifies the pension disbursement process.
“CPPS is a testament to our commitment to modernizing EPFO services and ensuring convenience, transparency, and efficiency for our pensioners. With this rollout, we are setting a new benchmark in pension service delivery, aligning with the vision of a tech-enabled and member-centric EPFO,” the minister said.
The CPPS is a paradigm shift from the existing pension disbursement system that is decentralized, with each Zonal/Regional Office of EPFO maintaining separate agreements with only 3-4 banks.
In CPPS, not only the pensioner will be able to take pension from any bank, but also, there will be no need for pensioners to visit the bank for any verification at the time of commencement of pension and the pension shall be immediately credited upon release.
“The CPPS system from January 2025 onwards would also ensure disbursement of pension throughout India without any need for transfer of Pension Payment Orders (PPO) from one office to another even when the Pensioner moves from one location to another or changes his bank or branch. This would be a great relief to pensioners who move to their hometown after retirement,” the ministry said in its statement.