About the Scheme

• Atal Pension Yojana (APY) addresses the old age income security of the working poor. It is focused on the unorganized sector workers. 
• It encourages the workers in the unorganised sector to voluntarily save for their retirement. The Government had launched the scheme with effect from 1st June, 2015.

Eligibility

• Any citizen of India can join the APY scheme. The age of the subscriber should be between 18-40 years. The contribution levels would vary and would be low if a subscriber joins early and increases if she joins late.
• The benefits of the scheme will arise to the subscribers on attaining the age of 60 years.

Features of APY

• Fixed pension for the subscribers ranging between Rs.1000 to Rs. 5000, if s/he joins and contributes between the age of 18 years and 40 years. 
• The same pension is payable to Spouse after death of Subscriber.
• Return of indicative pension wealth to nominees after death of spouse.
• In case of premature death of subscriber (death before 60 years of age), spouse of the subscriber can continue contribution to APY account of the subscriber, for the remaining vesting period, till the original subscriber would have attained the age of 60 years.
• The minimum pension would be guaranteed by the Government, i.e., 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.

• APY is administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). 

Why in News?

• The total enrolment under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has crossed 6 crore, with over 79 lakh enrolments in the current Financial Year. This feat of bringing in the most vulnerable sections of society under the coverage of pension has been made possible with the untiring efforts of all banks.
• The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), in the recent past, has taken several initiatives for awareness creation of the scheme including the release of a one-page simple APY flyer/handout in Hindi, English, and 21 regional languages.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1985627