Pension Expenditure of Kerala and its Utilisation by the Retired Government
Employees

Teena George; Dr. Y.C. Ibrahim

doi:10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i05.016

Title: Pension Expenditure of Kerala and its Utilisation by the Retired Government Employees
Authors: Teena George and Dr. Y.C. Ibrahim
Journal: International Journal of Social Science and Economic Research (IJSSER) ISSN: 2455-8834 Volume: 11 Issue: 5 Publication Date: May 2026 DOI: 10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i05.016
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Teena George1 and Dr. Y.C. Ibrahim2 1. Associate Professor and Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Government College Kodenchery, Kozhikode, University of Calicut, Kerala 2. Professor, Department of Economics, Government College Kodenchery, Kozhikode, University of Calicut, Kerala
MLA 8 George, Teena, and Dr. Y.C. Ibrahim. "Pension Expenditure of Kerala and its Utilisation by the Retired Government Employees." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 11, no. 5, May 2026, pp. 2099-2112, doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i05.016. Accessed May 2026. APA 6 George, T., & Ibrahim, D. (2026, May). Pension Expenditure of Kerala and its Utilisation by the Retired Government Employees. Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, 11(5), 2099-2112. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i05.016 Chicago George, Teena, and Dr. Y.C. Ibrahim. "Pension Expenditure of Kerala and its Utilisation by the Retired Government Employees." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research 11, no. 5 (May 2026), 2099-2112. Accessed May, 2026. https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i05.016.
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ABSTRACT: While Kerala excels in social and human development and consistently ranks among the topperforming states in terms of social indicators, mounting fiscal stress and limited revenue sources pose serious economic challenges. Committed expenditure on social development programmes and public-sector wages is a significant challenge to the state’s proactive efforts towards fiscal consolidation. Moreover, with a declining birth rate, a lengthening lifespan, and a surge in emigration among the youth, Kerala has begun to face second-generation development issues related to population ageing faster than anticipated, necessitating the productive engagement of the elderly. From this perspective, it becomes critical to understand the retirement lives of state government employees, who are the most skilled and resourceful among the elderly. At present, most government employees in Kerala are exiting organised employment at least 4 years earlier than their counterparts employed by the government of India or other state governments. With the improvement in average lifespan, a retired employee is expected to experience a longer non-working period, which has a direct bearing on public finances. The present study utilises secondary data from various budgets and economic reviews to understand the trend in the state’s pension expenditure. The study also proposes to examine the utilisation of pension income of government employees by collecting data randomly from 100 respondents within the Kozhikode district. The retired employees primarily use pension income to meet their day-to-day expenses, and a part of their income is saved for future contingencies.

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