Money & Tax · Part 9 · Pension · 8 min read · November 2026
30 November is not every pensioner's deadline. Check which date is yours.
Most reminders this month say the same thing: submit your life certificate by 30 November or your pension stops. For a central government pensioner, that is right. For someone on EPS-95 it may be wrong by months. The date depends on who pays your pension, and so does the route you can use.
- Central government pensioners: 1 to 30 November 2026 if you are under 80. From 1 October if you are 80 or above.
- EPS-95 pensioners: no November date. Your certificate lasts 12 months from the day you last submitted it, so renew before that runs out.
- You can do it from home. The Jeevan Pramaan app scans your face and sends the certificate to your pension office. No fingerprint device and no branch visit.
- A Pramaan ID does not mean it was accepted. Check the status. A wrong detail gets it rejected, and only an SMS tells you.
- Missed it? Your pension can stop, but it is not lost. Submit late, and the held amount is released once the certificate is processed.
What the certificate actually does
A life certificate is a yearly confirmation that the person drawing the pension is alive. Central government pensioners must give one every November for the pension to continue. The rule has stood for years and nothing about it changed in 2026.
Jeevan Pramaan is the digital version. It uses Aadhaar to confirm who you are, then sends the certificate electronically to the office that pays you. Digital certificates began in 2014, and the face scan was added in 2021.
What is new this year is a campaign, not a rule. The Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare is running its fifth Digital Life Certificate campaign from 1 to 30 November 2026, with camps in 2,000 districts and cities. Nineteen banks and 785 district post offices are part of it. If you need help, this is the month it is easiest to find.
Which date is yours
| Your pension | When to submit | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Central government, under 80 | 1 to 30 November 2026 | Digital or paper |
| Central government, 80 or above | 1 October to 30 November 2026 | The extra month is there to avoid the November queues |
| EPS-95 (EPFO) | Any time, before 12 months pass since your last one | If you last submitted in March, your date is around next March, not November |
| Re-employed pensioners, and family pensioners who remarried | As your pension office sets | Paper only. The digital route is not open to you |
| State government, bank staff, other schemes | Ask your pension office | Each authority sets its own rule, so do not assume the central date |
Two checks settle most doubts. Your Pension Payment Order (PPO) tells you which authority sanctioned your pension. Your bank or pension office can tell you the date on which your last certificate was recorded.
What to keep ready
- Your Aadhaar number or Virtual ID. It is mandatory for the digital route, and there is no substitute.
- Your PPO number.
- Your pension account number and bank details.
- The name of your pension sanctioning authority and your disbursing agency. Both appear in your pension papers.
- A working mobile number for the OTP and the SMS that follow.
Enter these exactly as your pension papers show them. Wrong particulars are the reason the official FAQ gives for rejection.
The face scan, step by step
You need a phone with a camera and internet, in India. The official manual for Android asks for Android 9 or above, 4 GB RAM or more, 64 GB storage with at least 500 MB free, and a 5 MP camera. There is an iPhone version too. A son, daughter or neighbour can run the app on their own phone, because the phone's owner is only the "operator".
- Install two apps. Get AadhaarFaceRD and Jeevan Pramaan. AadhaarFaceRD shows no icon on your home screen, and that is normal.
- Register the operator, once. Enter the operator's Aadhaar, mobile number and email, then the OTP. The operator scans their own face first.
- Enter the pensioner's details. Give the pensioner's Aadhaar and mobile number, and enter the OTP.
- Fill in the pension details. Pick the PPO number from the list if it appears, or add it by hand along with the disbursing agency and other fields.
- Check the preview. This is your last chance to catch a wrong digit. Tick both boxes and submit.
- Scan the pensioner's face. Keep the face inside the circle, blink, and follow the prompts.
- Save the Pramaan ID. It comes on screen and by SMS with a download link. The certificate goes to your disbursing agency on its own, so you do not need to carry anything to the branch.
If you draw more than one pension, the app asks about each PPO, and each one gets its own Pramaan ID.
If the app is not an option
- Bank branch. Go to your pension branch in person and submit there, on paper or by fingerprint. Ask for an acknowledgement. RBI's pension circular tells agency banks to give a signed one.
- Campaign camp. Camps run through November at banks and post offices, and staff there can help with the face scan.
- Common Service Centre or Jeevan Pramaan centre. These offer fingerprint or iris authentication. Carry your Aadhaar and pension details.
- Doorstep. India Post and some banks offer a home visit, which suits a pensioner who cannot travel. EPFO's notice described this as a nominal fee, so ask the current amount when you book.
- Paper, without visiting. Central government pensioners can send a form signed by a designated official, such as a gazetted officer or a postmaster.
After you submit: the check most people skip
The Pramaan ID only proves that a certificate was generated. Your pension office still has to accept it. So download the certificate from the Jeevan Pramaan portal a few days later and look at its status.
If it was rejected, you will get an SMS. The usual cause is a wrong detail. Speak to your disbursing agency, find out which field was wrong, and generate a fresh certificate with a new Pramaan ID. Do this early in the month, while there is still time to fix it.
Keep the Pramaan ID or the bank's acknowledgement until the next year's certificate is done. If your pension stops despite a timely submission, that is your proof.
If you miss the date
Your pension can stop, but your entitlement does not end. For government pensioners, the credit can stop from December if no certificate is on record by 30 November. For EPS-95 pensioners, it can stop from the payment cycle after the 12 months end. The exact month can vary with your pension authority.
The fix is the same either way: submit as soon as you can, by any route above, and then confirm with your bank or pension office that it has been recorded. Once it is processed, the pension resumes and the held amount is released. Late submission is accepted, so you do not need to wait for next November.
The harder case is a gap of three years or more. Restarting a central government pension then goes through the Central Pension Accounting Office and the competent authority, which takes longer. Keep this in mind if a pensioner has moved in with family or stopped using the old account.
If you submitted on time and the bank still delayed your credit, say so in writing and quote your acknowledgement. RBI requires agency banks to pay 8% a year automatically on pension or arrears they credit late.
Written at the MoneyClarityTech desk — by a working retail-credit professional in Indian banking who reads loan files, credit reports and bank statements every working day. Patterns from hundreds of real cases; every identifying detail removed. More about MoneyClarityTech →