New Delhi, June 6 -- In India, employees who are not on government payrolls have long been familiar with retirement unease. Recently, though, a new benchmark popped into view. The Centre's Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) option, which was thrown open to central workers on 1 April, offers half of one's average basic salary drawn in the last year of work as pension (if one puts in 25 years of service).

The very mention of half one's last pay prompts a basic question: Are those with no UPS access putting enough away for their silver years? Maybe not. A survey of pension planning by Grant Thornton Bharat (GTB), a professional services firm, has flagged a big gap between the money people expect they'll have to live on as they age and the reality...