More than 50 million citizens subscribe to Atal Pension Yojana: PFRDA

PFRDA said more than 5 crore people have enrolled under Atal Pension Yojana (APY), the flagship social security scheme of the central government

Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) on Monday said more than 5 crore people have enrolled under Atal Pension Yojana (APY), the ?agship social security scheme of the central government.

The scheme has done very well in the calendar year 2022 by enrolling more than 1.25 crore new subscribers in comparison to 92 lakh new subscriber's enrolment in the calendar year 2021, PFRDA said in a statement.

Till date, 29 banks have already surpassed the annual target allocated by the government of India, it said.

In the public sector bank category, Bank of India, State Bank of India and Indian Bank have achieved the allocated targets, while in the Regional Rural Bank (RRB) category, 21 banks have achieved the allocated targets, with the highest achievement by Jharkhand Rajya Gramin Bank, Vidharbha Konkan Gramin Bank and Baroda UP Bank, it said.

PFRDA, in line with the saturation drive as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech of 2021, took various initiatives for outreach of the scheme, it said.

Few positive trends have been noticed in the pro?le of the subscribers as currently enrolments of females in the scheme has grown to 45 per cent of total enrolments, in comparison to 38 per cent, as recorded in 2017.

Similarly, subscribers between age 18 and 25 years have grown to 45 per cent of total enrolments, in comparison to 32 per cent recorded in 2017. As on date, total assets under management (AUM) in APY is also more than Rs 25,000 crore, it said.

Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month from the age of 60 years, depending on their contributions, which itself would vary based on the age of joining the APY, it said.

The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber after the demise of the subscriber and on the demise of both the subscriber and spouse, the pension wealth as accumulated till age 60 of the subscriber would be returned back to the nominee, it said.