Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a pension scheme for citizens of India and focuses on workers in the unorganized sector. Under this scheme, a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month will be guaranteed at the age of 60 years depending on the contribution made by the subscribers. However, now the rules of Atal Pension Yojana have been changed by the government.
In fact, till now the enrollment of subscribers in Atal Pension Yojana (APY) was done through physical, net banking or other digital modes provided by the respective APY service providers. However, on October 27, 2021, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) announced the facility of online enrollment for APY using E-AADHAR KYC. CRA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) will now provide online onboarding based on Aadhaar eKYC as an additional option to expand reach and streamline the enrollment process.
According to the information given by India Post, any citizen of India can join the APY scheme. However, there are beneficiaries of other social security schemes who are not eligible to receive government co-contribution under APY.
All APY accounts are to be linked with Aadhaar number, for which CRA will facilitate Aadhaar linking of existing APY customers through proper consent mechanism. In addition, APY-SPs may also collect Aadhaar details from their affiliated customers with appropriate consent. Which will later be shared with the CRA for seeding.
The regulator claimed that CRAs are advised to engage with all APY-SPs for system level integration so that e-KYC based APY on-boarding and consent framework for Aadhaar seeding can be made available at the earliest. From 1 June 2015, the Government of India established the Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
In addition PFRDA operates the scheme under its administrative and institutional framework of NPS, and all existing subscribers of NPS/EPF or any other pension/social security scheme can also avail guaranteed pension amount of Rs.5000/- by Government of India under APY. You can subscribe to Atal Pension Yojana for Rs.5,00,000 if he/she is of minimum 18 years of age and maximum 40 years of age.
Who can subscribe to APY?
(i) The age of the subscriber should be between 18-40 years.
(ii) He should have a Savings Bank Account / Post Office Savings Bank Account.
The prospective applicant may provide Aadhaar and mobile number to the bank during registration to facilitate getting periodic updates on the APY account. However, Aadhaar is not mandatory for enrollment.
Who are the beneficiaries of other social security schemes who are not eligible to receive government co-contribution under APY?
Beneficiaries, who are covered under statutory social security schemes, are not eligible to receive government co-contribution under APY. For example, members of social security schemes under the following Acts will not be eligible to receive government co-contribution under APY:
(i) the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
(ii) the Coal Mines Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1948.
(iii) Assam Tea Garden Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions, 1955.
(iv) the Seamen’s Provident Fund Act, 1966.
(v) The Jammu and Kashmir Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1961.
(vi) any other statutory social security scheme.
