With the successful implementation of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and embracing a huge population to avail the banking benefits with opening a zero balance account with the continuation of Jan Dhan Yojana, a National Pension Scheme (NPS) which is known as Atal Pension Yojana (“APY”) was affected and passed in the Union Budget of 2015-16 by our honourable Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley.
The government has launched Atal Pension Yojana (APY), a pension scheme mainly aimed to create social security for all Indians. It is especially for the poor, the underprivileged, and the unorganised sector, such as maids, delivery boys, gardeners, etc. The APY scheme replaced the previous Swavalamban Yojana, which was not much accepted.
The goal of the scheme is to ensure that no Indian citizen has to worry about any illness, accidents or diseases in old age, giving a sense of security. Private sector employees or employees working with such an organization that does not provide them pension benefit can also apply for the scheme.
There is an option of getting a fixed pension of Rs 1000, Rs 2000, Rs 3000, Rs 4000, or Rs 5000 on attaining an age of 60. The pension will be determined based on the individual’s age and the contribution amount. The contributor’s spouse can claim the pension upon the contributor’s death, and upon the death of both the contributor and his/her spouse, the nominee will receive the accumulated corpus. However, if the contributor dies before completing 60 years of age, the spouse can either exit the scheme and claim the corpus or continue the scheme for the balance period.
As per the investment pattern laid down by the government of India, the collected amount under the scheme is to be managed by the Pension Funds Regulatory Authority of India (“PFRDA”).
The Government would also make a co-contribution of 50% of the total contribution, or Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower, to all eligible subscribers who had joined between June 2015 and December 2015 for a period of 5 years, i.e., for financial years 2015-16 to 2019-20. The subscribers should not be part of any other statutory social security schemes (E.g., Employee’s provident fund) or should not be paying income taxes to avail Government’s co-contribution.
To avail benefits from the Atal Pension Yojana, you must fulfil the below requirements:
Those who are availing benefits of Swavalamban Yojana will be automatically migrated to Atal Pension Yojana.
Follow these steps to avail the benefits of APY
You will receive a confirmation message on approval of the application.
The monthly contribution depends upon the amount of pension you want to receive upon retirement and also the age at which you start contributing.
The following table mentions how much you need to contribute per annum based on your age and pension plan.
APY - Monthly contribution
Withdrawal from APY scheme is not permitted before 60 years of age, but exit may be allowed in exceptional circumstances like death of beneficiary or terminal disease. So the actual exit scenarios are:
If you default on your payments, your bank will collect some additional amounts as follows:
• Re. 1 per month for contribution upto Rs. 100 per month.
• Re. 2 per month for contribution upto Rs. 101 to 500/- per month.
• Re 5 per month for contribution between Rs 501/- to 1000/- per month.
• Rs 10 per month for contribution beyond Rs 1001/- per month.
The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is very beneficial for people who are working in private sector or organizations where there is no provision of retirement benefits like pension.
No, currently there are no provisions to apply for APY online. You need to go to your bank and fill out the forms.
To apply for the APY scheme, you need to fill out the form and submit a photocopy of your Aadhar Card. No other documents are required.
You will receive an SMS alert on your registered mobile number, informing you when the pension scheme is activated.
The Atal Pension Yojana Scheme does not have a last date to join. Submit your application before June 1st to join the scheme for the coming year. The scheme is renewed on June 1st every year.
The minimum age is 18 years. The scheme is also open to college students. The maximum age is 40 years. It is because the minimum contribution period is 20 years. At the age of 60, you will start receiving your pension.
The Atal Pension Yojana scheme is passed by the Parliament of India in the budget session. The scheme will not be discontinued if there is a change in the Government, and your contribution is safe. Any succeeding Governments has the right to only change the name of the pension scheme.
A subscriber can only open one unique account under this APY scheme.
No, it is mandatory for applicants to hold a savings bank account before entering this scheme.
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