Finance Ministry has recently announced that more than 65 lakh new registrations have been made under Atal Pension Yojna in Financial Year 2021-22. This number has added up to 3.68 crore beneficiaries in six and a half years.
Pension Regulatory and Development Authority has hoped that the numbers will cross 1 crore mark if registration will continue at this pace by March 31, 2022.
What Is Atal Pension Yojna?
It is a social security scheme launched by Government of India in 2015 under then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kolkata on May 9, 2015. The scheme is designed to target unorganized sector.
In order to incentivize people to enroll in this scheme and widen its reach, the government announced that it would co-contribute 50% of the total contribution or ₹1,000 per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber account, for a period of 5 years. Only subscribers who had enrolled in APY between 1 June 2015 and 31 March 2016, and were not beneficiaries of any social security schemes, besides not having any taxable income were eligible for this co-contribution.
Also read:
Sukanya Samridhi Yojana: How To Pay Premium Online In IPPB
Who Is Eligible?
The minimum eligible age for a person to join APY is 18 years and the maximum is 40 years. An enrolled person would start receiving a pension on attaining the age of 60 years. Therefore, a minimum period of contribution by the subscriber under APY would be 20 years or more. The national Aadhaar ID number is the primary “know your customer” document for the identification of beneficiaries, spouses, and nominees to avoid entitlement-related disputes in the long term. For proof of address, an individual may submit a copy of their ration card or bank passbook.
How Much You Need To Pay?
Subscribers are required to opt for a monthly pension from ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 and ensure payment of the stipulated contribution regularly (monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly basis). Subscribers can opt to decrease or increase pension amount during the course of the accumulation phase, as per the available monthly pension amounts. However, the option to switch is only provided once a year during the month of April.
This scheme will be linked to the bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme and the contributions will be deducted automatically.
