look news india
A huge and very important change has been made by the Central Government for crores of employed people coming under the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). If you also work in a private or government organization and have left your job before completing 10 years of service or are planning to change, then this news is directly related to your pocket and financial future.
The Ministry of Labor and Employment has now approved and implemented a completely new ‘Employees’ Pension Scheme, 2026′ (EPS 2026) in place of the old pension scheme (EPS 1995). Under this new rule, which has become effective from June 29, 2026, now employees will not get the lump-sum amount of their pension immediately after leaving the job, rather a mandatory waiting period has been fixed for it. Let us understand in detail what this new rule is and what effect it is going to have on your deposits.
Basic rule of monthly pension: 10 years of service is still necessary
According to the basic structure of EPFO, to avail lifetime monthly pension after retirement, the total service period of any employee should be at least 10 years It is mandatory to have. People who leave the job before 10 years are not entitled to the regular pension they receive every month. This basic rule has been kept intact in the new EPS 2026 plan also.
However, so that employees who have worked for less than 10 years do not lose money, the government gives them two strong options:
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Withdrawal Benefit: The employee can withdraw the amount deposited in his pension fund in lump sum along with interest.
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Scheme Certificate: If the employee starts a new job in an EPFO covered company after some time, then with the help of this certificate, the tenure of his old job is added to the new job. This makes it very easy to complete 10 years of total service in future and become entitled for monthly pension.
What is the new 36 months (3 years) rule? (New Waiting Period)
The biggest and surprising change in the New Employees Pension Scheme 2026 is in its withdrawal rules. Now no employee will be able to claim immediate withdrawal of his pension amount if he leaves the job before the retirement age.
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3 years long wait: According to the new rule, the employee will be able to apply for withdrawal benefits online or offline only after 36 months (3 years) have passed from the date on which the last pension contribution was deposited in the employee’s EPF account.
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A special exemption to the rule: The government has also included a humanitarian exemption in this strict rule of 36 months. If the employee completes the official superannuation age during the waiting period of these 36 months, then he will not have to wait for the completion of 3 years. In such a situation, he can withdraw the entire amount immediately as soon as he attains his age.
Complete mathematics of withdrawal benefit: Know how much money you will get (Table IV Factor Calculation)
When you complete the mandatory waiting period of 36 months, the lump sum amount you will receive will be calculated on the basis of ‘Table IV Factor’ issued under the new scheme. Your ‘Pensionable Salary’ is multiplied by the ‘Table IV Factor’ as per your tenure to decide your final withdrawal amount.
Let us understand this in a very simple way with two different examples:
Example 1 (2 years on the job):
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Suppose your pensionable salary is ₹15,000 and you have only 24 months (2 years) Left the job after working.
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Factor of 24 months service as per Table IV 1.99 has been fixed.
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Calculation: ₹15,000 × 1.99 = ₹29,850 (You will get a lump sum payment of ₹29,850).
Example 2 (5 years on the job):
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Suppose your pensionable salary is the same ₹ 15,000, but your total 60 months (5 years) Have worked in the company till.
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Table factor increased due to long service of 60 months 5.02 It happens.
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Calculation: ₹15,000 × 5.02 = ₹75,300 (You will get a lump sum payment of ₹75,300).
It is clear from this formula that the more months an employee works under the EPFO ambit, the larger will be his Table IV factor and the greater will be the lump sum financial benefit received at the end.