Atal Pension Yojana (APY) Securing Guaranteed Pensions To The Underprivileged

The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) was launched by the union government in 2015 for offering a universal social security system for Indians. The scheme, administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) initially aimed to help especially the poor, the under-privileged section, and the workers in the unorganized sector. A subscriber can join the APY scheme through a public or private sector bank branch, or a post office. Both online and offline application modes are available for the scheme. The union government will have a 50% additional contribution of the total contribution by the subscriber or a Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower.

One can contribute to an APY account monthly/quarterly/half-yearly basis. Change in the frequency of contribution, like from quarterly to a monthly contribution, etc. can be done after submission of a written request by the APY subscriber to the APY service provider branch. An APY subscriber can also modify their pension amount once in an FY.

Benefits

According to the government, a subscriber will receive a guaranteed minimum monthly pension of Rs. 1000 or Rs. 2000 or Rs. 3000 or Rs. 4000 or Rs. 5000 at the age of his/her 60 years. The monthly pension will be given to the subscriber; in case of his/her death, to the spouse. After their death, the pension corpus, as accumulated at age 60 of the subscriber, would be returned to the nominee of the subscriber. a government document mentions, "If the accumulated corpus based on contributions earns a lower than estimated return on investment and is inadequate to provide the minimum guaranteed pension, the Central Government would fund such inadequacy. Alternatively, if the returns on investment are higher, the subscribers would get enhanced pensionary benefits."

Approximate contribution to receive the benefit of Rs. 1000 pension monthly

Age of joining	Years of contribution	Indicative monthly contribution
18	42	42
30	30	116
40	20	291

Source: HDFC bank

Who can apply for the Atal Pension Yojana (APY)?

A person, who is not a beneficiary of any social security scheme and is not an income taxpayer will be eligible for the scheme. To apply for the APY scheme the person needs to be an Indian citizen aged between 18-40 years. It is open to all bank account holders, but the contributions differ based on the pension amount chosen. One must provide nomination and spouse details in the APY account. If the subscriber faces a premature death (death before 60 years of age), the subscriber's spouse will be able to continue the contribution to the scheme under the same APY account. The spouse can contribute for the remaining vesting period, till the original subscriber would have attained the age of 60 years.

An APY mobile application is also available for the APY users to view the contributions, transaction statement, and e-Permanent Retirement Account Number (e-PRAN) card.

For closure of an APY account, a duly filled 'Account Closure Form (Voluntary Exit) form' and other related documents will have submitted to the concerned APY service provider branch, also one can find the form is available at - www.npscra.nsdl.co.in.