In case of a delay in pension disbursement, the pension-paying bank will have to pay government pensioners interest at 8% per annum on the due amount from the actual due date of payment, the Reserve Bank has said in a circular.

The central bank also directed banks to automatically transfer pensions and arrears and not ask pensioners to claim the compensation.

“Pension-paying banks should compensate the pensioner for delay in crediting pension/arrears thereof at a fixed interest rate of 8% per annum for the delay after the due date of payment, and the compensation shall be credited to the pensioner’s account automatically without any claim from the pensioner on the same day when the bank affords credit for revised pension/pension arrears in respect of all delayed pension payments made since October 1, 2008,” the circular said.

In case of payment of pension arrears, banks are asked to get copies of orders from pension-paying authorities immediately to ensure that government employees get their due amount along with pension in the succeeding month.

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The circular said that “pension paying banks have been advised to put in place a mechanism to obtain immediately the copies of pension orders from the pension paying authorities directly and make payments without waiting for receipt of instructions from the Reserve Bank of India so that pensioners should get benefits announced by the governments in the succeeding month’s pension payment itself.”

Bank branch a point of referral for the pensioner, says RBI

When the agency bank is calculating pension, the branch should continue to be a point of referral for the pensioner lest he/she feels disenfranchised, it said, adding that all branches having pension accounts should guide and assist the pensioners in all their dealings with the bank.

Banks have also been asked to make “suitable arrangements” to place the arithmetic and other details about pension calculations on their websites. They should also have similar arrangements at their branches at periodic intervals, along with “sufficient advertisement” about such facilities.

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All agency banks disbursing pensions are advised to provide considerate and sympathetic customer service to the pensioners, especially to those pensioners who are of old age, the circular said.