Tamil Nadu News

TAPS Scheme

January 8 , 2026 14 hrs 0 min 163 0

Tamil Nadu Assured Pension Scheme (TAPS) is announced for state government employees and teachers.
It will guarantee a pension equal to 50% of their last-drawn monthly salary.
It comes after the 23-year struggle of government staff for the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) since 2003.
The employees will contribute 10% of their basic salary to the pension corpus, and the state will bear the rest.
Under OPS, the government was bearing the entire pension fund contribution.
The state government will fully bear the cost of implementing TAPS.
It was expected to come into force on January 1, 2027
The financial burden on the state is expected to go up steeply under TAPS, with a one-time contribution of Rs 13,000 crore to the pension fund and additional contributions of Rs 11,000 crore every year.
The yearly contribution will also be revised periodically in line with the increase in salary.
The pensioners will be eligible for Dearness Allowance (DA) hikes every six months on par with serving government employees.
In the event of a pensioner’s death, 60% of the last-drawn pension will be paid as a family pension to the nominated family members.
Besides, gratuity up to Rs 25 lakh will be paid on retirement or in the event of death during service, based on the length of service.
TAPS also ensures a minimum pension for all employees who retire without completing the qualifying service period for pension.
Employees who joined service under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and retired without a pension before the implementation of TAPS will be provided a special compassionate pension.
According to the 2025-26 state budget, the TN government is estimated to spend Rs 2,07,054 crore on committed expenditure, which is 62% of its estimated revenue receipts.
This comprises spending on salaries (28% of the revenue receipts), pensions (14%) and interest payments (21%).
Chhattisgarh has become the first state to restore the old pension scheme in order to provide an assured income to retired employees.
West Bengal and Tripura were the only two states that did not immediately repeal the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) once the National Pension System (NPS) was implemented from 1 January 2004.
Tripura scrapped OPS and implemented NPS in 2015.
By 2005–06, almost every state in India had adopted NPS for their government employees except for West Bengal.
The NPS was introduced by the NDA government at the Centre in 2004.
The OPS has been re-implemented for their state government employees in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jharkhand.
Karnataka and Telangana are also planning to switch to OPS.