Atal Pension Yojana (APY, translation: ''Atal's Pension Scheme''), formerly known as Swavalamban Yojana (SY, translation: ''Self-Support Scheme'') is a government-backed pension scheme in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, primarily targeted at the

unorganised sector An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither taxed nor monitored by any form of government. Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developing countrie ...

. It was mentioned in the year 2015 Budget speech by the Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jai ...

. It was launched by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...

on 9 May 2015 in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

History

Swavalamban Yojana was a government-backed pension scheme targeted at the

in India. It was applicable to all citizens in the unorganised sector who joined the

National Pension Scheme National Pension System Trust (NPS Trust) is a specialised division of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority which is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. The National Pension System (NPS) is ...

(NPS) administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Act 2013.Swavalamban Scheme: Operational Guidelines
/ref> Under the scheme, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

contributed per year to each NPS account opened in the year 2010–11 and for the next three years, that is, 2011–12, 2012–13 and 2013–14. The benefit was available only to people who joined the NPS with a minimum contribution of and maximum contribution of per annum. The scheme was announced by the Finance Minister in Budget 2010–11. It was funded by grants from the Government of India. This scheme has been replaced with Atal Pension Yojana, in which all subscribing workers below the age of 40 are eligible for pension of up to per month on attainment of 60 years of age. This scheme was named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former prime minister of India.

Scheme

In order to incentivize people to enroll in this scheme and widen its reach, the government announced that it would co-contribute 50% of the total contribution or per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber account, for a period of 5 years. Only subscribers who had enrolled in APY between 1 June 2015 and 31 March 2016, and were not beneficiaries of any social security schemes, besides not having any taxable income were eligible for this co-contribution. The minimum eligible age for a person to join APY is 18 years and the maximum is 40 years.Atal Pension Yojana
/ref> An enrolled person would start receiving pension on attaining the age of 60 years. Therefore, a minimum period of contribution by the subscriber under APY would be 20 years or more. The national

Aadhaar Aadhaar ( hi, आधार, ādhār, lit=base, foundation, bn, আধার) is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by the citizens of India and resident foreign nationals who have spent over 182 days in twelve ...

ID number is the primary "

know your customer Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines in financial services require that professionals make an effort to verify the identity, suitability, and risks involved with maintaining a business relationship. The procedures fit within the broader scope of a ...

" document for identification of beneficiaries, spouses, and nominees to avoid entitlement-related disputes in the long-term. For proof of address, an individual may submit a copy of their ration card or bank passbook. Subscribers are required to opt for a monthly pension from to and ensure payment of the stipulated contribution regularly (monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly basis). Subscribers can opt to decrease or increase pension amount during the course of the accumulation phase, as per the available monthly pension amounts. However, the option to switch is only provided once a year during the month of April. This scheme will be linked to the bank accounts opened under the

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana () is a financial inclusion program of the Government of India open to Indian citizens (minors of age 10 and older can also open an account with a guardian to manage it), that aims to expand affordable access to f ...

scheme and the contributions will be deducted automatically.

References

External links

* {{Government Schemes in India Modi administration initiatives Government schemes in India Social security in India Pensions in India 2015 introductions 2015 in India Memorials to Atal Bihari Vajpayee 2015 establishments in India

History

Scheme

See also

References

External links