OPS vs NPS vs UPS calculator

This calculator compares your retirement payout under the three pension schemes a central government employee can be on: the Old Pension Scheme, the National Pension System, and the Unified Pension Scheme. From one set of figures it works out the monthly pension, the dearness relief, the lump sum, and the family payout under each, side by side. The Old Pension Scheme and the Unified Pension Scheme are assured, a defined share of your final basic pay; the National Pension System is market-linked, so its figures use the return and annuity rate you assume. Enter your details below; the result updates as you type.

Calculator

Pension in hand, side by side

What the calculator compares

The calculator takes your age, your total qualifying service at 60, your current basic pay and dearness allowance, the expected growth in your pay, and three NPS assumptions, and it computes the retirement payout under each scheme from the same figures.

The comparison table shows, for each scheme, the monthly pension, the dearness relief on it, the pension in hand, the lump sum at retirement, whether the pension is assured, what you contribute, and the family pension. The bar chart below plots the pension in hand under the three schemes so the difference is visible at a glance, and the verdict states the trade-off in words.

The three schemes

The Old Pension Scheme is a non-contributory defined benefit, closed to those who joined on or after 1 January 2004. It pays 50 per cent of the final basic pay as pension, with dearness relief, from the government’s budget, and the employee pays nothing towards it during service.

The National Pension System is a contributory, market-linked scheme, mandatory for those who joined on or after 1 January 2004. The employee pays 10 per cent and the government 14 per cent of basic pay plus dearness allowance into a corpus, which is invested; at retirement up to 60 per cent is taken tax-free and at least 40 per cent buys an annuity that pays the pension. There is no assured amount.

The Unified Pension Scheme is the assured option within NPS, available from 1 April 2025. It keeps the contributory structure but assures a payout of 50 per cent of the last 12 months’ average basic pay for 25 years of service, proportionate below that, with dearness relief and a lump sum at retirement.

How each figure is worked out

The calculator first projects your final basic pay at 60 by growing your current basic pay at the rate you enter, capped at the Rs. 2,50,000 apex, since no basic pay exceeds it. The Old Pension Scheme pension is 50 per cent of that final basic pay, subject to the Rs. 9,000 floor and the Rs. 1,25,000 ceiling. The Unified Pension Scheme payout is 50 per cent of the same final basic pay, scaled by your service over 25 years where it is under 25, with a Rs. 10,000 floor, plus a lump sum of one-tenth of the final basic pay and dearness allowance for each completed six months of service. Both the OPS and UPS pensions carry dearness relief at the rate you enter.

The National Pension System figure is a projection. The calculator accumulates 24 per cent of your basic pay plus dearness allowance each month, growing with your pay, adds any corpus you already hold, and compounds it at your assumed return to 60. It then takes 60 per cent as a tax-free lump sum and buys an annuity with 40 per cent, paying a pension at your assumed annuity rate. That annuity is level and does not get dearness relief.

A worked example

Take an employee aged 35 with 33 years of total service at 60, a current basic pay of Rs. 70,000, dearness allowance at 55 per cent, pay growth of 5 per cent, no existing NPS corpus, an 8 per cent return, and a 6 per cent annuity.

Over the 25 years to 60 the basic pay grows to about Rs. 2,37,000. The Old Pension Scheme pays 50 per cent of that, about Rs. 1,18,500 a month, and with 55 per cent dearness relief about Rs. 1,83,700 in hand. The Unified Pension Scheme, with more than 25 years of service, pays the same 50 per cent, about Rs. 1,18,500, and the same in hand, plus a lump sum of about Rs. 24 lakh. The National Pension System projects a corpus of a few crore, of which 60 per cent, over Rs. 2 crore, is a tax-free lump sum, and 40 per cent buys an annuity paying about Rs. 78,000 a month, without dearness relief. The comparison makes the trade-off plain: the assured schemes pay a higher, inflation-linked pension, while NPS trades a lower, level pension for a large tax-free corpus.

Notes and scope

The comparison is a what-if for an employee retiring at 60, not a statement of which scheme you are on, which is fixed by your date of joining. The NPS figures are illustrative and depend on the return and annuity rate, which are not guaranteed; the OPS and UPS figures assume the standard 50 per cent formula and full qualifying service. Gratuity is payable under all three schemes and is not shown here, since it does not differ between them in a way this comparison captures. For the detail of each scheme, use the Rule 44 pension calculator , the UPS payout calculator , and the NPS corpus calculator , and see the central government pension article.

See also

• NPS vs OPS vs UPS
• Central government pension
• Old Pension Scheme
• National Pension System
• Unified Pension Scheme
• Rule 44 pension calculator
• UPS payout calculator
• NPS corpus calculator
• Commutation of pension calculator
• Gratuity calculator
• Family pension
• Dearness relief
• Income tax for government employees
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• Central government employees in India

External references

• Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare
• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
• Department of Financial Services