The Government of India is extremely concerned about the old age income security of the working poor and is focused on encouraging and enabling them to join the National Pension System (NPS). Therefore, the Government introduced the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) on 1st June, 2015. APY aims to provide a defined pension, depending on the contribution, and its period. Atal Pension Yojana offers minimum guaranteed pension to subscribers, same guaranteed pension to the spouse after the demise of a subscriber and return of the accumulated pension wealth to the nominee. APY is a guaranteed pension scheme of the government which offers triple benefits to subscribers on attaining 60 years of age. It offers a minimum guaranteed pension to subscribers, same guaranteed pension to the spouse after the demise of a subscriber and return of the accumulated pension wealth to the nominee.
The scheme has got a total enrollment of 22,296,148 people of which 56.84% are male and 43.14% are female. The report of enrollment for APY based on gender and age demography recorded as on 31st March 2020. The achievement shows the progress is slow as on an average 4,460,000 people enrolled per annum for the guaranteed pension scheme.
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA) has revealed that over 52 lakh new subscribers have joined Atal Pension Yojana (APY) during 2020-21 so far, taking the total enrolment under the government’s social security scheme to 2.75 crore at end-December.
Despite the unprecedented challenges poised due to pandemic, addition of more than 52 lakh new subscribers in the financial year 2020-21 so far has been remarkable and result of untiring efforts of banks involved in the financial inclusion program through Pension Scheme. State Bank of India alone enrolled more than 15 lakh new APY subscribers.
PFRDA is the statutory authority established by an enactment of the Parliament to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the National Pension System (NPS) and pension schemes to which this Act applies. PFRDA said it is committed to continue its endeavor to popularize the scheme through various campaigns at national and state levels, constant engagement with bankers, participation in State-Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meetings, publicity through media and introducing digital on-boarding of APY subscribers.
Source: NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited
Author:
Dr. Tushar Panigrahi, Associate Professor, Unitedworld School of Business (UWSB)
Disclaimer: The opinions / views expressed in this article are solely of the author in his / her individual capacity. They do not purport to reflect the opinions and/or views of the College and/or University or its members.
