Jamshedpur: Tata Steel is introducing multi-option voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for a leaner workforce.

Named Sunhere Bhavishya Ki Yojana 2.0 (second edition), the VRS launched across Tata Steel's operations in India from Wednesday till February 28, 2018, gives three options.

These are long-term monthly amount up to 75 years, lump sum-cum-monthly amount till 60 years and monthly amount till 60 years. In the third, retirement benefits will be invested (based on the employee's choice) in SIPs and mutual funds.

Accommodation and medical benefits stay broadly the same for all three options.

The employee opting for VRS can stay at company quarters till he turns 58 or has four years left in service, whichever is earlier. Medical benefits for self and spouse will be lifelong at Tata Main Hospital, Jamshedpur.

If someone chooses long-term monthly sums till 75 and settles outside Jamshedpur after VRS, he or she can avail insurance of Rs 2 lakh.

Tata Steel vice-president (human resource management) Suresh Dutt Tripathi said the new VRS targeted less skilled workforce unable to cope up with skills required for the company's digital initiatives to stay afloat in the competitive market.

He called the fresh VRS a "pioneering effort" based on needs of employees at different stages of life. "It has been developed after much thought and surveys among employees who opted for earlier schemes," he said. So far, 1,526 employees took VRS under Sunhere Bhavishya Ki Yojana (first edition) introduced in 2015.

As of now, Tata Steel has nearly 36,000 employees, including 6,000 officers, across India. Jamshedpur alone has 18,000, including 3,500 officers.

Tata Steel corporate communications also said 60 seats under Millennium Scholarship would be reserved for wards of those employees who would avail VRS. In all, the number of seats under the scholarship for higher studies would be 300.

The company introduced its VRS first in 1995. So far, 29,000 employees have availed its benefits.