Best Pension Plan : ATAL PENSION YOJANA (APY)

By | November 24, 2015
(Last Updated On: November 24, 2015)

NOTIFICATION F.NO.16/1/2015-PR- ATAL PENSION YOJANA, DATED 16-10-2015

Background

1. The Government of India has introduced a pension scheme called the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), with effect from 1st June, 2015, pursuant to the announcement in the budget for 2015-16 on creating a universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor, the under-privileged and the workers in the unorganised sector. ATAL PENSION YOJANA  is being administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) under the overall administrative and institutional architecture of the National Pension System (NPS).

Eligibility for joining ATAL PENSION YOJANA 

2. ATAL PENSION YOJANA  is open to all citizens of India who have a savings bank account. The minimum age of joining ATAL PENSION YOJANA  is 18 years and maximum age is 40 years.

Features of ATAL PENSION YOJANA 

3. ATAL PENSION YOJANA is a voluntary, periodic contribution based pension system, under which the subscriber would receive the following benefits:

(i)Central Government guaranteed minimum pension amount : Each subscriber under ATAL PENSION YOJANA  shall receive a Central Government guaranteed minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month or Rs. 2000 per month or Rs. 3000 per month or Rs. 4000 per month or Rs. 5000 per month, after the age of 60 years until death.
(ii)Central Government guaranteed minimum pension amount to the spouse : After the subscriber’s demise, the spouse of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the same pension amount as that of the subscriber until the death of the spouse.
(iii)Return of the pension wealth to the nominee of the subscriber : After the demise of both the subscriber and the spouse, the nominee of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the pension wealth, as accumulated till age 60 of the subscriber.

Contribution payment by subscribers

4. The subscriber’s contributions to ATAL PENSION YOJANA  shall be made through the facility of ‘auto-debit’ of the prescribed contribution amount from the savings bank account of the subscriber in monthly, quarterly or half-yearly frequency. The subscribers are required to contribute the prescribed contribution amount from the age of joining ATAL PENSION YOJANA  till age 60. The details of age-wise, pension-wise and contribution-frequency-wise prescribed contribution amount and the indicative pension wealth available for the nominee is given in the table at Annex – 1.

Eligibility for co-contribution by Central Government

5. The subscribers in the eligible age, who are not income-tax payers and who are not covered under any statutory social security scheme, are entitled to receive:

(i)The co-contribution by Central Government of 50% of the total prescribed contribution, upto Rs. 1000 per annum, will be available for those eligible subscribers who join ATAL PENSION YOJANA  before 31st December, 2015.
(ii)The Central Government co-contribution shall be available for a period of 5 years, i.e., from Financial Years 2015-16 to 2019-20.

Additional voluntary co-contribution by State Governments

6. State Governments are enabled to provide additional voluntary co-contribution to ATAL PENSION YOJANA  subscribers of their State. The procedure would be prescribed by PFRDA, in consultation with the Central Government.

Process for enrolment under ATAL PENSION YOJANA 

7. All citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years can enroll themselves under ATAL PENSION YOJANA by submitting the duly completed application form to any enrolment agency.

Enrolment agencies under ATAL PENSION YOJANA 

8. ATAL PENSION YOJANA  applications may be submitted to any of the following enrolment agencies:

(i)All banks, including all nationalised banks, private banks, banking companies, regional rural banks, cooperative banks etc. either directly or through the following enablers:
(a)All Points of Presence (Service Providers) and Aggregators, which are governed under the institutional architecture of NPS and are appointed as such by PFRDA could work as facilitators with banks.
(b)Those Business Correspondents (BCs) / existing non-banking aggregators, Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) etc. who are appointed as enablers by banks.
(ii)Other enrolment agencies that may be specified as such by PFRDA or the Central Government, such as, Department of Posts under CBS Platform.

Charges and fees and overdue interest under ATAL PENSION YOJANA 

9. The charges and fees and the overdue interest for nonpayment or delayed payment of prescribed contribution amount shall be levied on the subscribers of ATAL PENSION YOJANA . These charges and their method of application shall be prescribed by PFRDA from time to time, in consultation with the Central Government.

Reimbursement of promotional expenditure and Incentive for enrolment of subscribers and sharing of incentives

10. The Central Government shall reimburse the expenditure done on promotional and development activities by the contribution collection agencies to encourage people to join ATAL PENSION YOJANA  in a manner as prescribed by the Central Government. Banks and other enrolment agencies shall also be paid incentives for enrolments under ATAL PENSION YOJANA  which may shared by them with the BCs/MFIs/Non-Bank Aggregators in a ratio. The incentives payable to the banks and other enrolment agencies and the ratio of sharing of these incentives shall be prescribed by PFRDA from time to time in consultation with the Central Government.

Existing subscribers of Swavalamban Scheme

11. The existing subscribers of Swavalamban in the age group of 18-40 years shall be migrated to ATAL PENSION YOJANA  unless they exercise an option to opt-out. The remaining subscribers outside this age group would be governed by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Exits and Withdrawals under the National Pension System) Regulations, 2015.

Investment of the contributions under ATAL PENSION YOJANA 

12. The amount collected under APY shall be invested as per the investment pattern specified by the Central Government from time to time.

Exit, withdrawal and pension payment

13. On completion of 60 years, the subscriber will get the guaranteed minimum monthly pension, or higher monthly pension, depending on the investment returns. In exceptional circumstances, i.e., in the event of the death of beneficiary or specified illnesses, as mentioned in the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Exits and Withdrawals under the National Pension System) Regulations, 2015, before the age of 60 years, the accumulated pension wealth till date would be given to the nominee or the subscriber, as the case may be. In case a subscriber, who has availed Government co-contribution under APY, chooses to voluntarily exit APY before the age 60, he shall only be refunded the contributions made by him to APY, along with the net actual interest earned on his contributions (after deducting the account maintenance charges), whereas, the Government co-contribution, and the interest earned on the Government co-contribution, shall not be returned to such subscribers.

ANNEX – 1

Monthly, Quarterly and Half-yearly prescribed contributions under ATAL PENSION YOJANA  for different minimum guaranteed amount of pension at different entry age and the return of corpus amount to the nominee

Minimum Guaranteed Pension of Rs. 1000/ monthMinimum Guaranteed Pension of Rs. 2000/ monthMinimum Guaranteed Pension of Rs.3000/ monthMinimum Guaranteed Pension of Rs.4000/ monthMinimum Guaranteed Pension of Rs.5000/ month
Return of Corpus Amount to the NomineeRs. 1.7 LakhRs. 3.4 LakhRs. 5.1 LakhRs. 6.8 LakhRs. 8.5 Lakh
Age at entryVesting periodMonthly contri-butionQuar- terly contri-butionHalf yearly contri-butionMonthly contri-butionQuar- terly contri-butionHalf yearly contri-butionMonthly contri-butionQuar- terly contri-butionHalf yearly contri-butionMonthly contri-butionQuar- terly contri-butionHalf yearly contri-butionMonthly contri-butionQuar- terly contri-butionHalf yearly contri-bution
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1941461372719227454313841181418354510802286791346
20405014929510029859015044788519859011692487391464
21395416131910832263716248395621564112692698021588
223859176348117349690177527104523469713812928701723
233764191378127378749192572113325475714993189481877
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