Atal Pension Yojana

• The Atal Pension Yojana is focused on the retirement benefits for the unorganized sector as well as those who are outside the purview of the Statutory Social Security Schemes and not an Income Tax Payer. The scheme is administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) through NPS (National Pension Scheme) architecture.
• Under the scheme, the subscribers are assured a monthly pension of Rs. 1000, Rs. 2,000, Rs. 3,000, Rs. 4,000 or Rs. 5,000 depending up on their contribution to the scheme.
• The subscribers can opt for a monthly, quarterly or half yearly contribution depending on their suitability and such contribution will be auto debited from the savings bank account the information of which is provided by the subscriber.
• The Government of India assures the minimum benefit of pension to the subscribers and is a co-contributor in the scheme. The government has the obligation to pay 50% of the amount contributed by the subscriber or Rs. 1,000 whichever is less.
• The government is bound to co-contribute for a period of 5 years (for the financial years 2015-16 to 2019-20) for all the eligible subscribers including those migrated from the original Swavalamban Scheme and the government contribution shall not increase the prescribed years in any case.
• The amount of pension that the subscriber would receive at maturity of the scheme (at the age of 60) depends on the contributions made throughout the scheme.
• The tax benefit for the subscriber will be the same as that under the NPS scheme. The government has proposed to issue a separate notification for the same under the Income Tax Act, 1961.
• The subscribers can nominate a person who will be given the corpus fund accumulated over the tenure of the scheme in the event of the death of the subscriber and his/her spouse.
• The scheme also gives the spouse of the contributor an option to opt out of the scheme and claim the accumulated amount along with interest or to continue with the scheme for the remaining period in the event of the contributor’s death prior to attaining the age of 60 years.
• The scheme does not permit the contributor to exit before the contributor is of 60 years unless in the event of death or serious illness.
• This scheme provides for regular information on the status of the contributions made via SMS alerts sent to the registered mobile number of the subscriber.

Eligibility for the Scheme

The eligibility criteria for the potential subscribers is stated below,

• The applicant must be between the age of 18 years and 40 years. 
• The applicants are required to make a contribution for a minimum of 20 years in accordance with the provisions of the scheme.
• They must have a valid Aadhaar card and a mobile number for verification and as part of KYC requirements
• The subscriber also has to furnish the details of a valid bank account that is linked with the Aadhaar card.

Application Procedure for the Scheme

• The government has extended this scheme to all the nationalized banks of the country. The potential subscribers can thus contact any nationalized bank or any post office to get the application form for this scheme.
• The application forms for the Atal Pension Yojana are also available online. Subscribers can download the forms from the bank’s website or directly from the website of NSDL (National Securities Depository Limited) which is the government website related to the National pension System.
• The application form is available in various languages like English, Hindi, Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil and Telugu for the convenience of the public at large.
• The subscribers are required to duly fill the application form and submit it at the bank
• They will have to provide a photocopy of their Aadhaar card and a verified mobile number along with the application.

Monthly Contributions to the Scheme

The monthly contributions that the subscriber has to make will depend on the amount of pension that he/she expects to receive at the time of retirement as well as the age at which they start contributing. Following table shows the details of the amount needed to be contributed based on the age and the pension plan sought.

The above table can be explained with the following example,

In order to get a monthly pension of Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 5,000, subscribers will have to contribute Rs. 42 to Rs. 210 if they join the scheme at the age of 18 years, whereas the contribution will range between Rs. 116 to Rs. 577 if the subscriber joins the scheme at the age of 30.

Modifications in the Subscriber Details

The scheme allows the subscribers to modify their details like address, change in mobile number as well as the frequency of the contributions or to upgrade or downgrade the pension amount.

• A written request has to be made for modification of the subscriber details along with the required documents and to be submitted at the APY-SP branch or the issuing bank.
• The scheme permits the subscribers to change (upgrade or downgrade the pension amount) only once in a year in the month of April. The subscriber has to download the same under the following path
• https://www.npscra.nsdl.co.in/ -Home-Atal Pension Yojana-Forms-Maintenance- Forms to upgrade/downgrade pension amount under APY
• The form has to be duly filled and submitted to the APY-SP branch.
• The term upgrade of the pension amount refers to the increase in the pension amount of the subscriber, similarly, downgrade pension amount means reducing the pension amount of the subscriber.
• The subscribers are also allowed to change the frequency of their contribution monthly, quarterly or half yearly depending up on their needs after submitting a written request for the same at the APY-SP branch.

Penalties for Delayed Contribution

The scheme entitles the banks to collect a penalty ranging from Re. 1 per month to Rs. 10 per month depending up on the amount of contribution made by the subscriber. This fixed interest or penalty will remain part of the corpus fund of the subscriber. Following table shows the details of the penalty charged/levied under the scheme.

If the subscribers fail to contribute to the scheme over a period of time, the following action will be taken as per the provisions of the scheme.

• if contributions are not paid for 6 months, the account will be frozen
• if contributions are not paid for 12 months, the account will be deactivated
• if contributions are not paid for 12 months, the account will be closed

The subscriber has to ensure that the savings bank account that has been provided at the initiation of the scheme has to be continued so as to ensure regular auto debit as well as credit of the corpus fund.

Other Relevant Details of the Scheme

• The government has also launched a mobile application for the APY subscribers which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store (for Android users) searching the same by simply typing ‘APY and NPS Lite’. Following are few features of this mobile application
• available free of cost
• subscribers can check recent 5 transactions
• transaction statement can be checked
• e-PRAN can be downloaded

• Subscribers can also register any grievance that they may face at zero cost from anywhere and anytime by downloading the form for the same from the website of the bank or through the following path

www.npscra.nsdl.co.in -Home - select: NPS-Lite

Upon raising the grievance, subscribers will receive a token number (acknowledgement number) which has to be quoted in future correspondence regarding the same or can be used to check the status of the grievance registered.

The government’s website provides a detailed list of grievances and the mode of resolution provided for the same.

• The subscribers can contact the Helpdesk set up by the government for any queries or issues regarding the scheme by calling on the toll free number 1800 110 069.
• They can also visit the government’s website for any clarifications or details required about the scheme or can also contact the nearest bank for the same.

FAQs: Atal Pension Yojana