Universal Pension Scheme: What it is, Where, How to register

Universal Pension Scheme in Bangladesh Started on August 17. As a result, four types of pension schemes were introduced. Now anyone above the age of 18 can come under the pension scheme by making contributions. Universal pension facility is introduced for the first time in Bangladesh. The pension scheme will be managed by the government. The journey of universal pension system started with four different schemes. The four schemes launched are:

• Probash Scheme (specifically for expatriate Bangladeshis)
• Progoti Scheme (aimed at private organization employees)
• Surokkha Scheme (crafted for self-employed individuals including rickshaw pullers, farmers, laborers, and others)
• Somota Scheme (designed for those with low income)

The National Pension Authority, operating under the Finance Department, will oversee the entire system. Just a day before the official start, on August 16, they launched their official website: www.upension.gov.bd. This portal serves as a gateway to information about the pension schemes and encourages participation by stating, “Ensure your future financial security by participating in a universal pension scheme.”

What is universal pension scheme?

Universal Pension Scheme In Bangladesh

According to the National Pension Authority website about the features of the pension system, there will be a separate pension account for each contributor. The contributor will start getting pension from the age of 60 years. In case of death before the completion of 75 years, his nominee will receive pension on monthly basis for the remainder of the original pensioner’s age of 75 years. If someone dies before 10 years of subscription, the nominee will get back the accumulated money along with the profit. The pension money will be treated as investment and the monthly pension money will be income tax free.

Eligible and Documents

All citizens aged between 18 and 50 years on the basis of their national identity cards, including expatriate Bangladeshis, will qualify for the benefit. To join, an applicant requires a National Identity Card (NID). Expatriate Bangladeshis can alternatively use passports but should acquire an NID promptly. However, the NID should be collected and submitted to the Pension Authority as soon as possible.

Things to Need:

• National identity card number
• Date of birth
• mobile number
• email ID
• bank account number
• bank branch
• routing number
• nominee’s national identity card,
• birth certificate or passport number
• nominee’s mobile number
• own annual income should be known.

Contribution Rate

7,000, 7,500 and 10,000 taka in expatriation scheme; There is an opportunity to contribute 2 thousand, 3 thousand and 5 thousand taka in progress scheme and 1 thousand, 2 thousand, 3 thousand and 5 thousand taka in protection scheme. Only in the Samata scheme the subscription rate is one, and that is 1000 rupees. Out of this, the contributor will contribute 500 rupees and the government will contribute 500 rupees.

Key Takeaways of the Pension Facility:

• Eligibility is for citizens aged 18 to 50.
• A minimum of 10 years of consistent contribution qualifies one for the pension.
• Certain regulations apply in cases of early death or if the contributor wants a loan against their deposit.
• Tax benefits are associated with contributions.
• Loans up to 50% of the deposit amount.

How To Apply For Universal Pension Scheme?

The Universal Pension Scheme offers both online and offline registration through Sonali Bank. An elaborate 10-step online registration process is outlined on their official website, guiding users from personal details to payment confirmation. Now, we have covered online instruction as below:

• A website called ‘Upension.gov.bd’ has been launched for the Universal Pension Scheme.
• Applicants have to visit the website www.upension.gov.bd to register.

How to apply:

1. Visit the Official Site: Start by visiting www.upension.gov.bd.
2. Personal Information Submission: Provide all necessary details.
3. OTP Verification: An OTP will be sent for verification.
4. Scheme Selection: Choose the best scheme for you.
5. Bank Details: Share your bank information for transactions.
6. Nominee Information: Designate a nominee.
7. Final Review and Payment: Make your initial contribution using various payment methods.
8. Welcome and Login: Get your Pensioner ID and set up your dashboard.

There are a few steps to be followed while registering on ‘Upension’ website.

Step 1 – Personal Information

• At the beginning you have to enter the ‘Upension’ website. Then click on ‘Pensioner Registration’ option. Then a confirmation page will appear.

There will be written ‘Certifying that I am not working in a Government, Semi-Government, Autonomous, State-Owned Institution, I am not in receipt of pension benefits from any Government, Autonomous Institution other than the Public Pension Scheme, I am in receipt of any allowance under the Social Security Scheme. No.’

However, the confirmation part must be clicked carefully. Because it clearly says ‘Incorrect information submission will result in cancellation of application and deposit will be non-refundable.’

• At the bottom of that confirmation page there is an option named ‘I Agree’, click on it to complete this step.
• Now another webpage will appear, named ‘Register’.
• Here the applicant has to first select the ‘Package/Scheme’.
• After that, there will be options to give 10, 13 or 17 digit NID number, date of birth, mobile number, e-mail information.
• The last part of this page will be ‘Provide Captcha’.

Step 2 – OTP

Then an OTP will be sent to your mobile. It should be provided on the Check Box. Then move to the next page. All the information including your NID image will be there automatically. On this page you have to select the profession by mentioning the annual income. After that you have to select the department, district and upazila.

After entering captcha correctly, an OTP will be sent to applicant’s mobile number and e-mail. Use that OTP in the form to proceed to the next step.

• Then on the page that comes you have to give personal information. According to the NID given on the previous page, this page will automatically show the applicant’s NID number, photo, Bengali and English name, father’s name, mother’s name, current and permanent.
• Here the annual income of the applicant has to be mentioned and the name of his profession, department, district and upazila has to be selected.

Step 3 — Scheme Information

At the end of this step another page called ‘Scheme Information’ will appear. Here you have to choose the amount of monthly subscription and the time of payment of subscription.

• There will be three options for payment of subscription: monthly, quarterly and yearly.

Step 4 – Bank details

• Bank information should be given now. On this page, the applicant has to mention the name and number of the bank account, the type of account (savings or current), the name of the bank and the name of the branch.

Step 5 – Nominee Information

Nominee information should be given on the next page. Nominee’s national identity card number and date of birth should be mentioned there. Multiple nominees can be added if desired. Nominee’s mobile number, relationship with nominee etc. should be mentioned on this page.

Step 6 – Complete form

• Now comes the last step of registration, the page called ‘Complete Form’. Here the applicant will be shown personal information, scheme, bank information and nominee information. If any mistake is noticed, it can be corrected on this page. If there are no errors, consent will complete the registration process.

Step 7 — Payment

Then the payment page will appear. Here it will show the name of the scheme, mode of contribution and amount of contribution. If correct click on Pay button. Then you can pay through Sonali Bank account or e-wallet, Dutch-Bangla Bank Nexus Card, American Express, Visa and MasterCard or mobile banking such as Rocket, Bikash, Cash, Way or Tap.

However, in case of payment/deduction from your account for the same service, it is requested not to make a second payment. Before paying by card, after going to the card gateway, check whether the first digit of the card is already written. If the first number is written, enter the remaining numbers excluding the first number.

Step 8 – Welcome Message

After successful payment you will receive a welcome message from National Pension Authority on your mobile and email. There you will be given a 13 digit Pensioner ID. You will also be notified that your first subscription has been received.

Step 9 – Pensioner Login

It will then take you to the Create User ID page. There your Pensioner ID will be provided by default. This is your user ID. Next you need to create a minimum six character password.

After clicking on create user button, a message will be given – ‘Your user has been created. You will now be taken to the login page.’ If everything is OK, click the OK button and you will be taken to the login page.

Step 10 – Personal Dashboard

Login as a pensioner with 13 digit user, password and captcha on login page. You will then be taken to the personal dashboard. Here you can find detailed information about your pension. Here you can find your scheme issue date, maturity date, next payment date, outstanding balance, total amount deposited including loan.

Package and subscription amount can be changed from this dashboard. There is also an opportunity to change the nominee. From here you can pay the subscription and also view the details of the subscription payment.

How to deposit installments?

The monthly installments can be deposited to the designated bank accounts of the National Pension Authority through mobile financial services, online banking, credit or debit card. Expatriate Bangladeshis can deposit donations through credit and debit cards.

How to get loan from the deposited money?

Under the scheme, the participants will be able to take 50 percent of the money deposited in the pension scheme as loan to spend on their own or family members’ treatment, house construction, house repair and child’s marriage.

The money taken as loan will have to be paid in 24 instalments, including the fees charged by the pension authority.

Probash Scheme

Any Bangladeshi citizen working or staying abroad can participate in this scheme by paying the amount of subscription in foreign currency as mentioned in the schedule and after returning to the country he can absorb the equivalent amount in local currency. If necessary, you can change the scheme. However, on completion of the pension scheme, the pensioner will get the pension in local currency.

Progoti Scheme

Any employee working in a private organization or the owner of that organization can participate in this scheme by paying the contribution at the rates mentioned in the schedule. In case of participation in this scheme for employees on behalf of private organizations, 50 percent of the scheme contribution will be paid by the employee and the remaining 50 percent by the organization. If a private organization does not participate in this scheme institutionally, any employee working in that private organization can participate in this scheme on his own initiative.

Surokkha Scheme

Persons working in the informal sector or engaged in self-employment such as farmers, rickshaw pullers, laborers, blacksmiths, potters, fishermen, weavers, etc. can participate in this scheme by contributing at the rates mentioned in the schedule.

Somota Scheme

Persons living below the poverty line based on the income limit published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, from time to time (whose current income limit is a maximum of Tk 60,000 per annum) can participate in this scheme by contributing at the rate specified in the schedule.

What is in the pension facility?

**All working citizens between 18 to 50 years of age will be entitled to this pension benefit. Bangladeshis working abroad can also participate in it. However, employees of government and autonomous organizations will be considered later, as now they are officially covered under a pension scheme.

**All citizens aged 18 to 50 years can open a pension account based on their National Identity Card information. Initially it will be optional. The government plans to make it mandatory later.

** Continuous contribution of at least 10 years will qualify one for monthly pension. There will be a pension account for every citizen. As a result, even if you change your job or profession, the pension account will remain unchanged. The monthly minimum subscription rate will be fixed. However, in case of expatriates, there will be an opportunity to pay subscription on quarterly basis.

**Beneficiary will ensure minimum annual deposit during the year. Otherwise their account will be temporarily suspended. Later the account will be activated by paying the outstanding subscription along with the late fee.

**On completion of the prescribed period for pension (60 years) the pension will be paid at the prescribed rate against the deposits with accumulated dividends in the pension fund. You will enjoy this pension benefit every month till your death.

**If the contributor dies before attaining the age of 65 years while on pension, his nominee will be entitled to that monthly pension. This pension will be paid to the nominee till the year in which the original contributor would have completed 75 years of age.

**The amount deposited in the pension scheme will not be subject to one-time withdrawal at any stage. However, upon application, 50 percent of the deposit can be taken as a loan, which has to be repaid with interest.

**If the registered contributor dies before contributing for at least 10 years, the deposit will be returned to his nominee along with the profit.

** Contributions earmarked for pension will be considered for tax deduction as investment. The monthly pension amount will be completely free of income tax.

**Government will bear the cost of Pension Authority and other related expenses. The pension authority will invest the money deposited in the fund as per the prescribed guidelines and ensure maximum returns.