Pension - If any employee continues work 9 years 9 months in India and left job for joining a company abroad?

If any employee continues to work for 9 years and 9 months in India and then leaves the job to join a company abroad, will they be eligible to receive a pension?

Dear Colleague,

To qualify for receiving Monthly Pension under the Employees' Pension Scheme, the minimum service condition is 10 years of membership in EPS. Therefore, a monthly pension is not possible. However, you can withdraw the accumulated amount by submitting form 10-C for a one-time payment.

Dear Member,

In my opinion, a service period of 9 years and 9 months is eligible for pension under the EPS Scheme.

Please refer to the following excerpt from the "Handbook on EPS," where the Notification No. is also provided.

PARA 9 ROUNDING OFF OF FRACTION OF SERVICE FOR 6 (SIX) MONTHS OR MORE
As stated in para 9(a) & 9(b), a fraction of service equal to or exceeding 6 months will be considered as one year, while service periods less than 6 months will be disregarded. Therefore, service durations of 9 years and 6 months or more should be rounded up to 10 years.

[C.P.F.C.'s circular No: Pension/2(4)/Clarification/96, dated 17th July 1996.]

I hope this clarifies any doubts.

Thanks for the update. I get corrected. Further suggest the member to check with the EPFO Enforcement officer for his eligibility. The guidelines say as below. All the Best to the member and take up your pension claim accordingly with EPFO after discussion with the Enforcement Officer. Thanks again.

As per the handbook of Pension of EPFO:

Determination of eligible service. The eligible service shall be determined as follows: (a) In the case of "new entrant," the "actual service" shall be treated as eligible service. The total actual service shall be rounded off to the nearest year. The fraction of service for six months or more shall be treated as one year, and the service less than six months shall be ignored. Explanation: In the case of employees employed seasonally in any establishment, the period of "actual service" in any year, notwithstanding that such service is less than a year, shall be treated as a full year. (b) In the case of the "existing member," the aggregate of actual service and the 'past service' shall be treated as eligible service. Provided that if there is any period in the "past service" for which the contributions towards the Family Pension Scheme, 1971 have not been received, the said period shall count as eligible service only if the contributions thereof have been received in the Employees' Pension Fund. Explanation: For the purpose of this sub-paragraph, the total past service for less than six months shall be ignored, and the total past service for six months and above shall be rounded to a year.

Dear Colleague,

Still, I believe 10 years is the minimum service requirement. The round-off of 6 months is considered for rounding off in case of 15.6 years as 16 years and 15.4 years as 15 years for pension calculation. Hence, the person who raised the question may kindly get it clarified from the EPF Enforcement Officer of the PF Office for better clarity. If eligibility is extended for 9.6 years, the benefit should not be missed out; hence, this suggestion.