Atal Pension Yojana
CountryIndia
Key peopleArun Jaitley, Nirmala Sitharaman
LaunchedOriginal launch in 2010–11. Relaunched on 9 May 2015; 8 years ago (2015-05-09)
Statusactive
Websitejansuraksha.gov.in

Atal Pension Yojana (APY, translation: Atal's Pension Scheme), formerly known as Swavalamban Yojana (SY, translation: Self-Support Scheme) is a government-backed pension scheme in India, primarily targeted at the unorganised sector. It was mentioned in the year 2015 Budget speech by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.[1] It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May 2015 in Kolkata.[2]

History

Swavalamban Yojana was a government-backed pension scheme targeted at the unorganised sector in India. It was applicable to all citizens in the unorganised sector who joined the National Pension Scheme (NPS) administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Act 2013.[3][4]

Under the scheme, the Government of India contributed ₹1,000 (US$13) per year to each NPS account opened in the year 2010–11 and for the next three years, that is, 2011–12, 2012–13 and 2013–14. The benefit was available only to people who joined the NPS with a minimum contribution of ₹1,000 (US$13) and maximum contribution of ₹12,000 (US$150) per annum. The scheme was announced by the Finance Minister in Budget 2010–11. It was funded by grants from the Government of India.[3][4]

This scheme has been replaced with Atal Pension Yojana,[5] in which all subscribing workers below the age of 40 are eligible for pension of up to ₹5,000 (US$63) per month on attainment of 60 years of age.[6][7] This scheme was named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former prime minister of India.[8]

Scheme

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 (US$13) 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.[9][10]

The minimum eligible age for a person to join APY is 18 years and the maximum is 40 years.[11][8] An enrolled person would start receiving 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.[12] The national Aadhaar ID number is the primary "know your customer" document for 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.

Subscribers are required to opt for a monthly pension from ₹1,000 (US$13) to ₹5,000 (US$63) 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.[6]

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.[13]


Subscribers & subscription amount

Year Swavalamban Scheme subscription (Cr) Swavalamban Scheme subscriber Atal Pension Scheme subscription (Cr) Atal Pension Scheme subscriber
2012[14] 141 968755 - -
2013[14] 436 1779944 - -
2014[15] 844 2816027 - -
2015[16] 1606 4146880 - -
2016[17] 2108 4480014 506 2,484,895
2017[18] 2639 4429342 1885 4863699
2018[19] 3006 4395000* 3818 9606000*
2019[20] 3409 4,362,538 6,860 14,953,432
2020[21] 3728 4331000* 10526.26 21142000*
2021[22] 4,354.38 4302000* 15,687.11 28049000*
2022[23] 4687 - 20923 36276704

Post-Covid-19, the number of beneficiaries joining the Atal Pension Scheme has increased. More than 90 lakh people joined in 2021 and more than 1.2 crore people joined in 2021.[24][25]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Jan Suraksha: Social security for masses, pricing woes for insurers", Business Standard, 9 May 2015
  2. ^ "Banks advertise Pradhan Mantri Bima Yojana ahead of the roll out", Live Mint, 8 May 2015
  3. ^ a b "Swavalamban Scheme: Operational Guidelines" (PDF). Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  4. ^ a b "FM to launch Swavalamban pension scheme tomorrow". Business Standard. 25 September 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  5. ^ "Swavalamban Scheme". Department of Financial Services | Government of India. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Atal Pension Yojana (APY)1 – Details of the Scheme" (PDF). npscra.nsdl.co.in.
  7. ^ "FAQ". www.npscra.nsdl.co.in. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Atal Pension Yojana in Hindi: अटल पेंशन योजना में मिलेंगे हर महीनें पेंशन". 23 January 2022. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  9. ^ Gunasekaran, Dhuraivel (12 May 2019). "A good bet for lower middle class". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  10. ^ Mukerji, Chandralekha (23 February 2016). "Atal Pension Yojana eligible for same tax benefits as National Pension System". The Economic Times. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  11. ^ "Atal Pension Yojana | National Portal of India". www.india.gov.in. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  12. ^ "About Atal Pension Yojana-APY". revexpo.com. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  13. ^ "'Jan Suraksha schemes to help eliminate Jan Dhan's zero balance accounts'". Business Standard. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  14. ^ a b "Annual report 2012-2013". pfrda.org.in. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  15. ^ "Annual report 2014". pfrda.org.in. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  16. ^ "Annual report 2015". pfrda.org.in. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  17. ^ "Annual report 2016". pfrda.org.in. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  18. ^ "Annual report 2017". pfrda.org.in. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  19. ^ "Annual report 2018". pfrda.org.in. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  20. ^ "Annual report 2019". pfrda.org.in. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  21. ^ "Annual report 2020". pfrda.org.in. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  22. ^ "Annual report 2021". pfrda.org.in. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  23. ^ "Annual report 2022". pfrda.org.in. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  24. ^ "A first: Atal Pension Yojana logs 10 million enrolments in a calendar year". 22 January 2023.
  25. ^ "PFRDA expects AUM of Rs 9 trillion by end of FY23, shows data". 6 January 2023.

External links

Government Schemes in India
Categories