Defence pension wrong or short? How to fix a SPARSH discrepancy

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

Subedar (retired) Balwinder noticed his monthly pension had dropped by about Rs 3,200 after his account migrated to SPARSH, the defence pension portal. His rank and qualifying service were right on paper, but the system had fixed his basic pension on a lower figure and had not applied a revision he was due. He did not know whether to blame the bank, the portal, or the pension sanctioning office. This is the most common shape of a defence pension problem: the amount is wrong, and it is not obvious who fixed it wrong. The fix is to read your own pension record, raise the grievance in the right system, and get the calculation checked against your Pension Payment Order (PPO).

This guide is for armed forces pensioners and family pensioners, ex-servicemen, war widows, and dependants, whose defence pension is short, wrongly fixed, stopped, or not revised, especially after the move to SPARSH.

Three players matter, and confusing them wastes weeks.

• SPARSH (sparsh.defencepension.gov.in) is the system that processes and pays your pension and shows your data. It is run under the Defence Accounts Department.
• The Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions), PCDA(P) Prayagraj, and the service PCDAs, sanction and revise pension and issue the PPO. The PPO and its corrigenda are the legal basis of your entitlement.
• Your Pension Disbursing Agency, your bank branch or the Defence Pension Disbursing Office, pays what SPARSH instructs.

A wrong amount is almost always a fixation or revision error in the PPO or in how SPARSH applied it, not the bank inventing a figure. So your target is the pension record, not the cashier.

Log in to your SPARSH profile, or ask at a SPARSH service centre or your Defence Pension Disbursing Office if you cannot. Pull and save:

• your PPO and any corrigendum PPOs, which state the rank, qualifying service, and the sanctioned basic pension,
• your pension calculation or entitlement sheet on SPARSH,
• recent pension slips or bank statements showing what was actually paid,
• any revision orders for your rank and class that you believe were not applied.

Compare the sanctioned figure with what is being paid, and write down the exact gap with dates. “My basic pension shows Rs [x] but the revision dated [date] fixes it at Rs [y]” is something an office can act on. “My pension is less” is not.

SPARSH has a built-in grievance facility (often shown as “Raise Grievance” or Anubhav/seva request, depending on the screen). Lodge the discrepancy there first, quoting your PPO number, your pension account, the exact wrong figure, the correct figure, and the order you rely on. Attach your calculation sheet and the revision order. Keep the grievance reference number. This is the channel SPARSH is built to act on, and it routes the matter to the office that can correct the fixation.

To: SPARSH Grievance Cell / PCDA(P)
(through the SPARSH grievance facility)

Subject: Discrepancy in defence pension, PPO No. [number]

I am [name], [rank, retired], PPO No. [number], pension account [number].
My pension has been [under-paid / wrongly fixed / not revised] as follows:

- Sanctioned / due basic pension: Rs [correct figure], per [PPO /
  corrigendum / revision order dated [date]].
- Amount actually paid: Rs [wrong figure] per pension slip dated [date].
- Resulting short payment: about Rs [amount] per month from [date].

I request that the fixation be corrected on SPARSH in line with the above
order, that the arrears be released, and that I be informed in writing of
the action taken and the corrected figure.

Enclosures: PPO / corrigendum, SPARSH calculation sheet, pension slips,
revision order relied upon.

[Name], [mobile], [email], [date]

If the SPARSH grievance does not resolve the fixation in a reasonable time, take it to the PCDA(P) through its grievance and pension-grievance channels, and, where your service records are the issue, to your service record office (for example, the relevant Records or the Air Force or Navy pension cell). The record office confirms rank, qualifying service, and class of pension. The PCDA(P) issues the corrigendum PPO that actually corrects a wrong fixation. Quote your earlier SPARSH grievance number so the matter shows continuity.

If the matter still does not move, lodge it on CPENGRAMS, the pension grievance portal at pgportal.gov.in/pension, selecting the Defence pension category. CPENGRAMS is the dedicated pension grievance system and is read by the Department and the PCDA. It is the right escalation when offices are silent, and it leaves a government-side record you can later RTI.

Where a revision was due years ago, arrears can be substantial, and some claims become harder with delay. If a large arrear or a denied revision is involved, an ex-servicemen's grievance cell, a service association, or, for a contested entitlement, the Armed Forces Tribunal through a lawyer, may be the route. Do not let a stuck file run for years, push it in writing and keep every acknowledgement.

Defence pension is paid by public authorities, the PCDA(P), the Defence Accounts Department, and the record offices, so RTI is a genuine tool here. Use it for records and reasons, not as a complaint. You can ask the relevant PIO for: the calculation sheet and the basis on which your basic pension was fixed, a copy of the order or rule applied to your fixation, whether a particular revision order was implemented for your PPO and the date, the file movement and present status of your correction or corrigendum request, and the action taken on your SPARSH or CPENGRAMS grievance. RTI does not itself correct the pension, the PCDA does that by corrigendum PPO, but it exposes a wrong fixation or a revision that was never applied, which is often what unlocks the correction. If the PIO does not reply in time, the first appeal route applies. Your paying bank, if private, is not a public authority, but a public-sector bank branch acting as disbursing agency is.

• SPARSH (sparsh.defencepension.gov.in): pension data, calculation sheet, grievance.
• PCDA(P) Prayagraj (pcdapension.nic.in): PPO, corrigenda, pension grievances.
• CPENGRAMS (pgportal.gov.in/pension): pension grievance escalation.
• RTI Online (rtionline.gov.in): for the PCDA / DAD RTI.

Almost always a fixation or revision error in the PPO or in how SPARSH applied it, not the bank. Read your PPO and SPARSH calculation sheet, find the exact gap, and raise it in SPARSH quoting the correct figure and the order you rely on.

Your PPO and any corrigendum PPOs. They state the sanctioned basic pension and are the legal basis of your entitlement. Compare them with your pension slips to pinpoint the discrepancy.

The bank or disbursing office only pays what SPARSH instructs, so it cannot fix a wrong fixation. Raise the discrepancy in SPARSH and with the PCDA(P). Approach the bank only if it is paying differently from what SPARSH sanctioned.

Take it to PCDA(P) and, for record issues, your service record office. If it is still stuck, lodge it on CPENGRAMS under the Defence pension category. Keep your earlier grievance reference for continuity.

Often yes, and arrears can be large. Some claims get harder with delay, so move quickly. For a contested entitlement or denied revision, the Armed Forces Tribunal through a lawyer may be the route.

No. RTI gets you the calculation basis, the order applied, whether a revision was implemented, and the status of your request. The PCDA corrects the pension by corrigendum PPO. RTI exposes the error that forces the correction.

• Defective income tax return notice: correcting an official record with documents.
• Wrong eCourts status: aligning an official record with the underlying file.
• DSC stuck before a deadline: escalating a stalled official process.
• All practical guides | How to file RTI online | First and second appeals

Download the defence pension discrepancy checklist (PDF).