The Business Bytes
NEW DELHI, APRIL 27, 2024 (TBB BUREAU): “Pension Portals of all Pension Disbursing Banks to be integrated in the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal of Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare to ensure Ease of Living of Pensioners” said V Shrinivas, Secretary (P&PW) while addressing the launch ceremony of the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal of Bank of India on Friday.
Shrinivas emphasized the importance of integrating the pension portals of all pension disbursing banks into the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal. This integration aims to streamline pensioner services and ensure ease of living for retirees.
The Secretary highlighted the Department’s commitment to enhancing pensioners’ welfare through digital empowerment. Initiatives such as Digital Life Certificates and the Bhavishya Portal are key components of this strategy.
The Bhavishya platform plays a crucial role in digitizing the pension processing and payment journey, starting from retirees filing their papers online to the issuance of the Pension Payment Order (PPO) in electronic format and storage in Digilocker. Mandated for all central government departments since January 1st, 2017, Bhavishya is currently operational in 98 ministries/departments, including 870 attached offices and 8,174 Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs). Notably, the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare was awarded the 3rd Rank for BHAVISHYA in the NeSDA Assessment 2021 among all Central Government e-Governance Service Delivery Portals.
To address pensioners’ concerns related to banks, such as bank changes, life certificate submission status, pension slips, Form 16, and pension receipt information, the websites of Pension Disbursing Banks are being integrated with the Integrated Pensioners Portal of DoPPW. This integration enables pensioners to access these services conveniently from a single window.
The integration of pension portals of State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, and Canara Bank with the Bhavishya portal has already been completed. As a result, pensioners of Bank of India can now avail themselves of services like pension slips, life certificate submission status, Due and Drawn statement, and Form-16 through the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal. The Department aims to integrate most Pension Disbursing Banks with the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal in the near future, further enhancing pensioner services and simplifying administrative processes.
