Old Age Pension of Rs 200 Enough for Senior Citizens? Know What the Govt Says About the Hike Proposal

Is the old age pension of Rs 200 to Rs 500 sufficient for the elderly? On a question in Lok Sabha on August 5, 2025, about the hike in old age pension by the central government, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development, Kamlesh Paswan, clarified that government provides old age pension of Rs 200 per month to beneficiaries aged 60 to 79 years, and Rs 500 per month to those aged 80 years and above.

While the central government offers an old-age pension under the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOPS). IGNOAPS comes under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) of the Ministry of Rural Development. While the Minister acknowledged that the ension amount for senior citizens ranges between Rs 200 to Rs 500, his written reply read that “As per guidelines of NSAP, the States/UTs are encouraged to provide top-up amount of at least an equivalent amount to the assistance provided by the Central Government so that the beneficiaries could get a decent level of assistance.”

However, the Minister emphasised that if States want, they can add to the old age pension amount for older adults as per the guidelines to ensure their social security of senior citizens in their State.

Notably, State governments do not necessarily have to add up to the pension amount in the central government scheme. They can run their own pension schemes as well.

For example, the Bihar government runs its own old age pension scheme 'Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Pension Yojna (MVPY)' along with the IGNOAPS. Under both schemes, the monthly pension was Rs 400 until the Chief Minister of the State announced a hike in social security pension in June 2025 from Rs 400 per month to Rs 1,100 per month to be effective from July 2025.

According to Paswan’s reply, “At present, the States/UTs are adding top-up amount ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 3800 per month per beneficiary under Old age Pension Scheme of NSAP, resulting in an average monthly pension of around Rs 1,000/- in most of the States/UTs.”

The central government releases the central government scheme’s funds to the States or union territories (UTs). States then disburses the pension to the scheme’s beneficiaries in their State at the district, block, village, and town levels.

While a few states have revised old age pension in the last month, such as Bihar, which increased the per-month pension to Rs 1,100, and Odisha, which announced to increase old age pension in May 2025 from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,500 for super seniors.

However, on the question of whether the government is considering a proposal for increasing the monthly pension for senior citizens aged 60 to 79 years to Rs 1,000 and for seniors more than 79 to Rs 1,500, Paswan said, “At present, no such proposal is under consideration in the Government.”

Notably, eligible beneficiaries can receive pension from only one scheme.