PFRDA - Atal Pension Yojana

Ministry of Finance

Atal Pension Yojana

25 JUN 2019

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has submitted a proposal to increase the limit of pension and age under Atal Pension Yojana (APY). The same is under examination in consultation with PFRDA.

The number of beneficiaries under APY in last three years, State-wise, are as per Annexure A.
Atal Pension Yojana(APY) is open to all citizens of India between 18-40 years of age. Accordingly, Mudra beneficiaries, Self Help Group (SHG) members and Anganwadi workers who are citizen of India and fall between 18-40 years of age are eligible to join APY.

This was stated by the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharamanin a written reply to a Parliament Question in Rajya Sabha today.

PIB

Voluntary exit under Atal Pension Yojana (APY) - PFRDA

Voluntary exit under Atal Pension Yojana (APY) - PFRDA

PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

CIRCULAR

CIR No.: PFRDA/2019/10/APY/1

Date: April 8, 2019

To,
POPs under Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

Subject: Voluntary exit under Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

The functionality of online voluntary exit was released in the month of August 2017 by Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA) - NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited to smoothen the process of Voluntary Exit under Atal Pension Yojana (APY). However, it has been observed that some POPs and branches of POPs are sending physical exit forms to PFRDA instead of processing through their APY module. This causes delay in execution of voluntary exit, which in turn increases grievances from the subscribers.

In view of the same, POPs are advised - (i) to process voluntary exit request only through their APY module (ii) to sensitize all their branches which are performing Atal Pension Yojana related activities to process voluntary exit as per the guidelines.

The physical forms are NOT to be submitted to PFRDA.

Yours faithfully,

(Dr. Purnima Sharma)
Deputy General Manager

PFRDA: Amendment to the investment Guidelines (Applicable to Scheme CG, Scheme SG, Corporate CG and NPS Lite schemes of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana)

PFRDA: Amendment to the investment Guidelines (Applicable to Scheme CG, Scheme SG, Corporate CG and NPS Lite schemes of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana)

PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
B-14/A, Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhawan,
Qutab Institutional Area,
Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi-110016.

Ph: 011-26517501, 26517503, 26133730
Fax: 011-26517507
Website: www.pfrda.org.in

CIRCULAR

PFRDA/2019/8/SUP-PF/2

Date: 25.03.2019

Subject: Amendment to the investment Guidelines (Applicable to Scheme CG, Scheme SG, Corporate CG and NPS Lite schemes of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana)

Reference is invited to the Investment Guidelines for NPS Schemes (Scheme CG, Scheme SG, Corporate CG and NPS Lite schemes of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana) dated 3rd June 2015 issued vide circular no. PERDA/2015/16/PFM/7, the Change in Investment guidelines for NPS schemes W.r.t. Investment in equity Mutual funds vide circular no. PERDA/2018/56/PF/2 dated 20th August 2018 and Revised rating criteria for investments under NPS Schemes vide circular No. PERDA/2018/02/PF/02 dated 08.05.2018. The changes hereunder shall apply only to Scheme CG, Scheme SG, Corporate CG and NPS Lite schemes of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana.

2. In order to provide flexibility to the Pension Funds to improve the scheme performance depending upon the market conditions, it has been decided to increase the cap on Government Securities & related investments and Short term debt instruments & related investments by 5% each.

3. The asset class wise revised caps on the various asset classes are as under:

Asset Class	Caps on Investments for composite schemes
Government Securities & related investments	Upto 55%
Debt Instruments & related investments	Upto 45%
Equity & related investments	Upto 15%
Asset backed, trust structured etc.	Upto 5%
Short term debt instruments & related investments	Upto 10%

4.The other terms and conditions as mentioned in the circular PERDA/2015/16/PFM/7 dated 03.06.2015, circular no. PERDA/2018/56/PF/2 dated 20th August 2018 and circular No. PFRDA/2018/02/PF/02 dated 08.05.2018 shall remain the same.

This circular is issued in exercise of powers of the Authority under sub-clause (b) of the sub- section (2) of section 14 of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 read with regulation 14 and 43 of PFRDA (Pension Fund) Regulation, 2015.

This would be effective from 01.04.2019.

Venkateswarlu Peri
(Chief General Manager)

Government will soon start the selection process for the new PFRDA chairman

Government will soon start the selection process for the new PFRDA chairman

"The Finance Ministry will soon come out with an advertisement to find a successor to head the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA),"

Contractor's term will be completed on April 30, 2019.

PFRDA was re-constituted into a statutory body after notification of PFRDA Act in 2014.

Contactor is the first Chairman to head the regulatory body. He had joined PFRDA on October 7, 2014.

As per the Act, the chairman will have a tenure of 5 years or till age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
Contractor was previously held the post of SBI managing director before being appointed as the PFRDA Chairman.

The pension fund regulator has reached a subscriber base of 2.65 crore in its flagship National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) schemes and hopes to cover nearly 2.72 crore subscribers by the end of the current financial year.

The APY, mainly targeting the unorganised sector employees, offers five slabs of pension from Rs 1,000 - Rs.5,000 per month upon retirement. Employees in the age bracket of 18-40 years can sign up for an APY account.

NPS is a voluntary defined contribution retirement savings scheme for government employees as well as for those working in the organised and unorganised sectors.

PTI

Minimum Pension - Employees Pension Scheme - for the pensioners under Employees Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995.

Ministry of Labour & Employment
Minimum Pension

17 DEC 2018

As regards Employees Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995, a minimum pension of Rs. 1,000/- per month has been prescribed with effect from 01.09.2014 for the pensioners under Employees Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995.

In the case of Atal Pension Yojana (APY), depending upon the pension plan selected, each subscriber under APY shall receive a guaranteed minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month or Rs. 2000 per month or Rs. 3000 per month or Rs. 4000 per month or Rs. 5000 per month, after the age of 60 years until his/her death. If the actual returns during the accumulation phase are higher than the assumed returns for minimum guaranteed pension, such excess will be passed on to the subscriber. As such, the minimum pension depending upon the pension plan selected by the subscriber is fixed under the APY. Under National Pension System (NPS), there is no ceiling fixed for minimum pension.
Further, a High-Empowered Monitoring Committee has been constituted for complete evaluation and review of the EPS, 1995.

There is no provision for Dearness Allowance in EPS, 1995, as it is a self-funded scheme with fixed contributions. Further, Dearness Allowance is not applicable under NPS and APY as the pension under both depends upon the accumulated corpus at the time of exit which is market linked.
This information was given by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar Union Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

PIB

The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is the guaranteed Pension Scheme of Government of India administered by PFRDA

Ministry of Finance

Easy to Explain Benefits drive Atal Pension Yojana (APY) backed by Government of India's Guarantee;The Subscriber base under APY has crossed 1.24 crore mark; More than 27 lacs new subscribers have joined the Scheme during the Current Financial Year 2018-19

02 NOV 2018

The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is the guaranteed Pension Scheme of Government of India administered by PFRDA.

The Subscriber base under APY has crossed 1.24 crore mark. The Govt of India guarantees the pension benefits. The Scheme is very easy to understand and it is very transparent. More than 27 lacs new subscribers have joined the Scheme during the current financial year, i.e. 2018-19. States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka are the top contributors in APY enrollment. The Scheme allows any Indian Citizen between the age group of 18-40 years to join through the bank or post office branches where one has the savings bank account. The table below shows State wise enrollment, gender wise distribution and coverage along with the latest population in those States.

The State wise potential, that is eligible population that can be covered under APY, and gender wise distribution of population as on 27th Oct 2018 is given below:

S.No	STATE	POPULATION BETWEEN AGE GROUP 18 TO 40	Number of APY Subscribers as on 27.10.2016	Percentage of Population Covered under APY	Total Female Subscribers	Percentage of Female Subscribers	Total Male Subscibers	Percentage of Male Subscribers	Total Transgender Subscribers	Percentage of Transgender Subscribers	Total
1	ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS	168,753	1,856	1	715	39	1,141	61	0	0	1,856
2	ANDHRA PRADESH & TELANGANA	34,832,527	1,128,032	3	565,804	50	561,843	50	385	0	1,128,032
3	ARUNACHAL PRADESH	542,212	4,507	1	1,936	43	2,571	57	0	0	4,507
4	ASSAM	12,291,862	250,783	2	109,481	44	141,259	56	43	0	250,783
5	BIHAR	35,484,731	1,116,119	3	559,297	50	556,707	50	115	0	1,116,119
6	CHANDIGARH	473,489	19,408	4	6,383	33	13,023	67	2	0	19,408
7	CHHATTISGARH	9,675,449	194,442	2	77,620	40	116,810	60	12	0	194,442
8	DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI	161,941	6,689	4	1,350	20	5,337	80	2	0	6,689
9	DAMAN & DIU	134,502	4,697	3	735	16	3,962	84	0	0	4,697
10	DELHI	7,266,256	205,759	3	67,330	33	138,376	67	53	0	205,759
11	GOA	595,087	28,951	5	10,480	36	18,468	64	3	0	28,951
12	GUJARAT	23,827,045	591,045	2	179,603	30	411,318	70	124	0	591,045
13	HARYANA	10,104,539	278,199	3	75,688	27	202,460	73	51	0	278,199
14	HIMACHAL PRADESH	2,685,526	79,964	3	27,241	34	52,711	66	12	0	79,964
15	JAMMU & KASHMIR	4,775,045	47,614	1	12,025	25	35,551	75	38	0	47,614
16	JHARKHAND	11,967,910	258,688	2	128,426	50	130,239	50	23	0	258,688
17	KARNATAKA	25,359,036	915,260	4	389,509	43	525,564	57	187	0	915,260
18	KERALA	11,943,218	276,115	2	151,103	55	124,961	45	51	0	276,115
19	LAKSHADWEEP	25,877	295	1	80	27	215	73	0	0	295
20	MADHYA PRADESH	27,234,721	662,515	2	226,775	34	435,630	66	110	0	662,515
21	MAHARASHTRA	45,274,703	1,000,604	2	354,301	35	646,088	65	215	0	1,000,604
22	MANIPUR	1,140,447	8,031	1	3,833	48	4,198	52	0	0	8,031
23	MEGHALAYA	1,068,987	9,049	1	3,705	41	5,344	59	0	0	9,049
24	MIZORAM	432,946	5,798	1	3,089	53	2,709	47	0	0	5,798
25	NAGALAND	783,664	7,214	1	2,986	41	4,228	59	0	0	7,214
26	ODISHA	16,118,865	398,416	2	161,799	41	236,501	59	116	0	398,416
27	PUDUCHERRY	512,040	23,991	5	12,601	53	11,381	47	9	0	23,991
28	PUNJAB	11,134,889	381,405	3	120,374	32	261,003	68	28	0	381,405
29	RAJASTHAN	25,277,598	569,052	2	173,965	31	394,957	69	130	0	569,052
30	SIKKIM	264,461	6,828	3	2,606	38	4,221	62	1	0	6,828
31	TAMIL NADU	29,069,600	968,372	3	529,395	55	438,679	45	298	0	968,372
32	TRIPURA	1,503,503	28,786	2	12,544	44	16,240	56	2	0	28,786
33	UTTAR PRADESH	71,289,176	1,790,481	3	594,235	33	1,195,808	67	438	0	1,790,481
34	UTTARAKHAND	3,810,712	122,871	3	40,855	33	81,997	67	19	0	122,871
35	WEST BENGAL	36,688,732	709,869	2	324,163	46	385,522	54	184	0	709,869
	TOTAL	463,920,049	12,101,705	3	4,932,032	41	7,167,022	59	2,651	0	12,101,705

PIB

Now 97.05 lakh subscribers base under Atal Pension Yojana

Ministry of Finance

Now 97.05 lakh subscribers base under Atal Pension Yojana

02 APR 2018

At the end of Financial Year 2017-18, 97.05 lakh subscribers have enrolled under Atal Pension Yojana. The incremental addition of 48.21 lakh subscribers was a 98% more than previous Financial Year 2016-17 figure of 48.83 lakhs. PFRDA appreciates the efforts taken out by the APY Service Providers (Banks/DoP) for their contribution towards making India a Pensioned Society.

PFRDA has taken various initiatives for the expansion of outreach and ease the operations under APY. Online facility to view Statement of Account and ePRAN card was enabled for the ease access of account of APY subscribers, going ahead mobile applications for empowering the subscribers to view transactions and other details of their APY account was introduced. For the convenience of the subscriber and promoting the digital initiatives of GOI, PFRDA introduced the online registration facility through eNPS Channel by login to a website www.enps.nsdl.com without any requirement of physical document.

APY became operational from 1st June, 2015 and is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years. Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs.5000 per month, depending upon his contribution, from the age of 60 years. The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both the subscriber and spouse, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee.

Now APY can also be opened through a complete digital channel through eNPS platform. A subscriber can view and print the ePRAN card and Statement of Transactions. Further, the subscriber can register complaints/ grievance by providing his/ her PRAN details on https://npslite-nsdl.com/CRAlite/grievanceSub.do.

Growth of Atal Pension Yojana during the Previous Financial Years

No. of Subscribers
Financial Year	Absolute	Cumulative
2015-2016	2,484,895	2,484,895
2016-2017	2,398,934	4,883,829
2017-2018	4,821,632	9,705,461

PFRDA identifies 21 Banks as Makers of Excellence under Atal Pension Yojana Outreach Programme; The Number of Current APY subscribers crosses 86 Lacs mark

Ministry of Finance

PFRDA identifies 21 Banks as Makers of Excellence under Atal Pension Yojana Outreach Programme; The Number of Current APY subscribers crosses 86 Lacs mark.

15 FEB 2018

With a view to bring the economically disadvantaged section of the society in the unorganized sector within the pension fold or old age income security coverage, Government had launched the Atal Pension Yojana (APY)in May 2015.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) in association with Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance conducts APY Outreach Programme on a regular basis.
Accordingly, PFRDA has observed a Campaign namely, Makers of Excellence for the Chairmen and MDs of all the Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks (Rural & Urban) & Department of Post for registration of subscriber under APY during the month of Dec 2017 for a fortnight. Under the campaign, nearly, 6 lacs APY accounts were sourced by the APY Service Provider Banks. Targets were allocated to various banks to be achieved during the Campaign. A total of 21 banks- 6 Public sector banks, 14 Regional Rural Banks and 1 Cooperative Bank were able to achieve the target under the campaign and became the Makers of Excellence. PFRDA has planned to award the Top Management of the winning banks at the upcoming PFRDA Pension Conclave in national capital.

The winning Banks and their performance is as below:

S. No.	Name of the APY Service Provider	Category	Number of Branches	Minimum No. of Funded Accounts to be Sourced under Makers of Excellence Campaign	Actual No. of Funded Accounts Sourced under Makers of Excellence Campaign	Remarks (Qualified /Not Qualified
1	CANARA BANK	PSU	6,050	35,000	101,669	Qualified
2	INDIAN BANK	PSU	2,588	15,000	76,823	Qualified
3	ANDHRA BANK	PSU	2,903	15,000	57,315	Qualified
4	BANK OF BARODA	PSU	5,460	30,000	42,665	Qualified
5	ALLAHABAD BANK	PSU	3,143	20,000	30,029	Qualified
6	VIJAYA BANK	PSU	1,603	10,000	28,241	Qualified
7	GRAMIN BANK OF ARYAVART	RRB	700	3,500	5,915	Qualified
8	MADHYA BIHAR GRAMIN BANK	RRB	698	3,490	5,507	Qualified
9	PRAGATHI KRISHNA GRAMIN BANK	RRB	650	3,250	5,383	Qualified
10	PRATHAMA BANK	RRB	412	2,060	5,288	Qualified
11	BARODA UTTAR PRADESH GRAMIN BANK	RRB	924	4,620	5,125	Qualified
12	ANDHRA PRADESH GRAMEENA VIKAS BANK	RRB	768	3,840	4,893	Qualified
13	BARODA RAJASTHAN KSHETRIYA GRAMIN BANK	RRB	819	4,095	4,560	Qualified
14	PURVANCHAL BANK	RRB	570	2,850	3,368	Qualified
15	KAVERI GRAMEENA BANK	RRB	497	2,485	2,942	Qualified
16	DENA GUJARAT GRAMIN BANK	RRB	234	1,170	2,322	Qualified
17	BIHAR GRAMIN BANK	RRB	376	1,880	2,258	Qualified
18	CHAITANYA GODAVARI GRAMEENA BANK	RRB	203	1,015	1,714	Qualified
19	PALLAVAN GRAMA BANK	RRB	256	1,280	1,431	Qualified
20	SAPTAGIRI GRAMEENA BANK	RRB	207	1,035	1,074	Qualified
21	THE BEGUSARAI CENTRAL COOPERATIVE BANK LTD	DCCB	9	45	113	Qualified

The APY scheme became operational from 1st June, 2015 and is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years. Under the Scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs.5000 per month, depending upon his contribution, from the age of 60 years. The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both the subscriber and spouse, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee.

The APY Scheme follows the same investment pattern as applicable to the NPS contribution of Central Govt employees. During the year 2016-17, it has earned a return of 13.91%.

The number of current APY Subscribers has crossed 86 lacs mark. The yearly addition in APY enrollment is provided below:

APY Subscriber Addition (In Lacs)
Year	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18 ( till 13thFeb 2018)	Total
No of Subscribers ( lacs)	24.84	23.99	37.63	86.46

PIB

PFRDA identifies 21 Banks as Makers of Excellence under Atal Pension Yojana Outreach Programme; The Number of Current APY subscribers crosses 86 Lacs mark

Ministry of Finance

PFRDA identifies 21 Banks as Makers of Excellence under Atal Pension Yojana Outreach Programme; The Number of Current APY subscribers crosses 86 Lacs mark.

15 FEB 2018

With a view to bring the economically disadvantaged section of the society in the unorganized sector within the pension fold or old age income security coverage, Government had launched the Atal Pension Yojana (APY)in May 2015.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) in association with Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance conducts APY Outreach Programme on a regular basis.
Accordingly, PFRDA has observed a Campaign namely, Makers of Excellence for the Chairmen and MDs of all the Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks (Rural & Urban) & Department of Post for registration of subscriber under APY during the month of Dec 2017 for a fortnight. Under the campaign, nearly, 6 lacs APY accounts were sourced by the APY Service Provider Banks. Targets were allocated to various banks to be achieved during the Campaign. A total of 21 banks- 6 Public sector banks, 14 Regional Rural Banks and 1 Cooperative Bank were able to achieve the target under the campaign and became the Makers of Excellence. PFRDA has planned to award the Top Management of the winning banks at the upcoming PFRDA Pension Conclave in national capital.

The winning Banks and their performance is as below:
< td bgcolor="#d7e4bc">Qualified

S. No.	Name of the APY Service Provider	Category	Number of Branches	Minimum No. of Funded Accounts to be Sourced under Makers of Excellence Campaign	Actual No. of Funded Accounts Sourced under Makers of Excellence Campaign	Remarks (Qualified /Not Qualified
1	CANARA BANK	PSU	6,050	35,000	1 01,669	Qualified
2	INDIAN BANK	PSU	2,588	15,000	7 6,823	Qualified
3	ANDHRA BANK	PSU	2,903	15,000	5 7,315	Qualified
4	BANK OF BARODA	PSU	5,460	30,000	42,665	Qualified
5	ALLAHABAD BANK	PSU	3,143	20,000	3 0,029	Qualified
6	VIJAYA BANK	PSU	1,603	10,000	2 8,241	Qualified
7	GRAMIN BANK OF ARYAVART	RRB	700	3,500	5,915	Qualified
8	MADHYA BIHAR GRAMIN BANK	RRB	698	3,490	5,50 7	Qualified
9	PRAGATHI KRISHNA GRAMIN BANK	RRB	650	3,250	5,38 3	Qualified
10	PRATHAMA BANK	RRB	412	2,060	5,28 8	Qualified
11	BARODA UTTAR PRADESH GRAMIN BANK	RRB	924	4,620	5,12 5	Qualified
12	ANDHRA PRADESH GRAMEENA VIKAS BANK	RRB	768	3,840	4,89 3	Qualified
13	BARODA RAJASTHAN KSHETRIYA GRAMIN BANK	RRB	819	4,095	4,56 0	Qualified
14	PURVANCHAL BANK	RRB	570	2,850	3,36 8	Qualified
15	KAVERI GRAMEENA BANK	RRB	497	2,485	2,94 2	Qualified
16	DENA GUJARAT GRAMIN BANK	RRB	234	1,170	2,32 2	Qualified
17	BIHAR GRAMIN BANK	RRB	376	1,880	2,25 8	Qualified
18	CHAITANYA GODAVARI GRAMEENA BANK	RRB	203	1,015	1,71 4	Qualified
19	PALLAVAN GRAMA BANK	RRB	256	1,280	1,43 1	Qualified
20	SAPTAGIRI GRAMEENA BANK	RRB	207	1,035	1,07 4	Qualified
21	THE BEGUSARAI CENTRAL COOPERATIVE BANK LTD	DCCB	9	45	113

The APY scheme became operational from 1st June, 2015 and is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years. Under the Scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs.5000 per month, depending upon his contribution, from the age of 60 years. The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both the subscriber and spouse, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee.

The APY Scheme follows the same investment pattern as applicable to the NPS contribution of Central Govt employees. During the year 2016-17, it has earned a return of 13.91%.
The number of current APY Subscribers has crossed 86 lacs mark. The yearly addition in APY enrollment is provided below:

APY Subscriber Addition (In Lacs)
Year	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18( till 13thFeb 2018)	Total
No of Subscribers ( lacs)	24.84	23.99	37.63	86.46

PIB

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) can now be subscribed digitally

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) can now be subscribed digitally;
eNPS Channel (APY@eNPS) involves complete digital enrolment process


Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has now introduced "APY@eNPS" which involves a complete digital enrolment process. This is the latest in the series of various initiatives taken by PFRDA for expansion of outreach of Atal Pension Yojana (APY), to give additional push to cover the as yet unreached population at greater ease. PFRDA has conducted meetings with Banks and Deptt of Post at Kolkata, Bengaluru & Mumbai respectively for the earliest roll out of the facility call.

Shri A G Das, CGM, PFRDA recently addressed the meetings at Mumbai where IT department /Nodal officers of the Banks/Deptt of Post were present. PFRDA had briefed about the benefits of APY@eNPS platform to the Service Providers under APY where more than 45 bank officials (IT officials/Nodal Officers) were present. The APY service providers have been briefed to develop APY@eNPS channel features before 30th June 2017.

PIB

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) included under Section 7 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) included under Section 7 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016; 

APY currently has more than 54 lacs subscribers with an asset base of more than Rs. 2,200 crores.

With an objective of bringing in transparency, efficiency and to enable beneficiaries to get their entitlement directly in a convenient and seamless manner, Aadhaar card has been constituted as the primary document in identification of the beneficiary under the Aadhaar Act which came into effect from 12th September 2016.

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has now been included under the Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act. As per the provisions of the Act, any individual who is eligible to receive benefits under the APY will have to furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar number or undergo enrolment under Aadhaar authentication. A copy of the notification is attached.

Accordingly, an APY subscriber will have to get the Aadhaar number recorded in his or her APY pension account and also in his/ her savings account where the periodic pension contribution instalments are debited and government co-contribution is to be credited. In case a subscriber is not yet having an Aadhaar card, he/ she should immediately get him/ her enrolled for the Aadhaar card for which he or she can visit the nearest Aadhaar enrolment centre. The list of all such centers is available on UIDAI website, www.uidai.gov.in.
PFRDA has identified nearly 12.35 lakh subscribers who are eligible for Government of India co- contribution for an amount upto Rs 1000 for the financial year 2016-17 which will be released to the eligible subscribers’ savings bank accounts which are seeded with Aadhaar. These subscribers are advised to approach their Bank or Postal Branch for seeding their Aadhar Number.

In the recent times, various new initiatives like online viewing of Statement of Transactions (SOT) and online PRAN card under APY have been taken up by PFRDA for facilitating subscribers under the scheme.
Atal Pension Yojana currently has more than 54 lacs subscribers with an asset base of more than Rs. 2,200 crores.

PIB

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) reaches 53 lakhs subscribers base

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) reaches 53 lakhs subscribers base 

235 Banks and Department of Post involved with APY implementation
97.5% of the subscribers contributing at monthly intervals; 51.5% subscribers have opted for a monthly pension of Rs. 1000

The subscribers base under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has reached about 53 Lakhs. At present 235 Banks and Department of Post are involved with the implementation of the scheme. Besides the branches of the banks and CBS-enabled offices of India Post, quite a few banks are sourcing subscribers through their internet banking portals in a paperless environment.

The APY Scheme follows the same investment pattern as applicable to the NPS contribution of Central Government employees.  During the year 2016-17, it has earned a return of 13.91%.

With a view to empower the APY subscribers, new functionalities have been developed where under a subscriber can view and print the ePRAN card and Statement of Transactions. Further, the subscriber can register complaints/ grievance by providing his/ her PRAN details on https://npslite-nsdl.com/CRAlite/grievanceSub.do.

Presently males account for 62% of the subscribers and female for about 38%. Most of the subscribers have opted for monthly contribution; about 97.5% of the subscribers are contributing at monthly intervals, about 0.8% at quarterly intervals and about 1.7% at half yearly intervals.

A majority of the subscribers have opted for a monthly pension of Rs. 1000/-.  Presently 51.5% subscribers have opted for a monthly pension of Rs.1000/- and 34.5% of the subscribers have opted for a monthly pension of Rs.5000/-. Pension amount wise segmentation of the subscribers is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Pension amount wise segmentation of the APY subscribers

The Atal Pension Yojana became operational from 1st June, 2015 and is available to all the citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years. Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs. 5000 per month, depending upon his contribution, from the age of 60 years.  The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both the subscriber and the spouse, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee.

PIB

Key Achievements and Initiatives of Department of Financial Services for providing Social Security and Credit to various sections of society and ensuring Financial Inclusion

Key Achievements and Initiatives of Department of Financial Services for providing Social Security and Credit to various sections of society and ensuring Financial Inclusion

Through its Major Schemes, Department of Financial Services is ensuring financial inclusion, providing social security to the people as well as providing credit to various sections of the society. The major achievements of various schemes under the Department are highlighted below.

1. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)
The deposit base of PMJDY accounts has expanded over time. As on 05.04.2017, the deposit balance in PMJDY accounts was Rs. 63,971 crore in 28.23 crore accounts. The average deposit per account has more than doubled from Rs. 1,064 in March 2015 to Rs. 2,235 in March 2017.  22.14 crore RuPay cards have been issued under PMJDY.

The Bank Mitra network has also gained in strength and usage. The average number of transactions per Bank Mitra, on the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System operated by Bank Mitras, has risen by over eightyfold, from 52 transactions in 2014-15 to 4,291 transactions in 2016-17.

2. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)

As on 12th April, 2017, Cumulative Gross enrolment reported by Banks subject to verification of eligibility, etc. is about 3.1 Crore under PMJJBY. A total of 63291 claims were registered under PMJJBY of which 59770 have been disbursed.

3. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)
As on 12th April, 2017, Cumulative Gross enrolment reported by Banks subject to verification of eligibility, etc. is about 10 Crore under PMSBY.  A total of 12816 claims were registered under PMSBY of which 9646 have been disbursed.

4. Atal Pension Yojana (APY)
As on 31st March, 2017, a total of 48.54 lakh subscribers have been enrolled under APY with a total pension wealth of Rs. 1,756.48 crore.

5. Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana     
Under the scheme a loan of upto Rs. 50000 is given under sub- scheme 'Shishu'; between Rs. 50,000 to 5.0 Lakhs under sub-scheme 'Kishore'; and between 5.0 Lakhs to 10.0 Lakhs under sub-scheme 'Tarun'.
As per latest data, loans extended under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) during 2016-17 have crossed the target of Rs. 1,80,000 crore for 2016-17. Sanctions currently stand at Rs. 1,80,528 crore. Of this amount, about Rs. 1,23,000 crore was lent by banks while non-banking institutions lent about Rs. 57,000 crore.

Data compiled so far indicates that the number of borrowers this year were about 4 crore, of which over 70% were women borrowers. About 18% of the borrowers were from the Scheduled Caste Category, 4.5% from the Scheduled Tribe Category, while Other Backward Classes accounted for almost 34% of the borrowers.

6. Stand Up India Scheme
The Scheme facilitates bank loans between Rs.10 lakh and Rs.1 crore to at least one Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe borrower and at least one Woman borrower per bank branch for setting up greenfield enterprises. This enterprise may be in manufacturing, services or the trading sector.

As on 11th April, 2017, Rs 5807.7 crore has been sanctioned in 28444 accounts. Of these, women hold 22708 accounts with sanctioned loan of Rs 4740.11 crore, Scheduled Caste persons hold 4487 accounts with sanctioned amount of Rs 825.17 crore while Scheduled Tribe persons hold 1249 accounts with a sanctioned amount of Rs. 242.43 crore.

7. Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY)
The revived Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) was formally launched by the Finance Minister on 14.08.2014 based on the budget announcement made during 2014-15 and has been opened during the window stretching from 15th August, 2014 to 14th August, 2015. Thus all those who subscribe to the VPBY during this period will receive an assured guaranteed return of 9% under the policy. As per LIC, a total number of 3,23,128 policies with corpus amount of Rs. 9073.20 crore have been subscribed to the Scheme.

8. Other Initiatives

The Government of India in the Interim Budget of FY 2014-15, announced the setting up of Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castesunder the head Social Sector Initiatives in order  to promote entrepreneurship among the Scheduled Castes (SC). The scheme is operational since 16.01.2015 with a present corpus of Rs. 290.01 crore contributed by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India (Rs. 240.01 crore) and IFCI Ltd. as sponsor and investor (Rs. 50 crore).  As of 15.03.2017, IFCI Venture Capital Fund Ltd. has sanctioned and disbursed Rs. 236.66 crore and Rs. 109.68 crore to 65 and 32 beneficiaries, respectively under the scheme since launch of the scheme.

The Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme (CEGS) for Scheduled Castes (SCs) was announced by Govt. of India in the Union Budget of 2014-15 wherein a sum of Rs.200 crore was allocated towards credit facility cover for young and energetic start-up entrepreneurs, belonging to SCs, who aspire to be part of neo middle class category with an objective to encourage entrepreneurship in the lower strata of the society resulting in job creation besides creating confidence in SCs.

Banks have undertaken Financial Literacy programmes through 718 Financial Literacy and Credit Counselling Centres (FLCCs). A total of 17,422 skilling centres have been mapped with branches and literacy centres, and financial literacy imparted to 7 lakh students. The literacy materials have been developed in regional languages and disseminated.

Card acceptance infrastructure: To augment card acceptance infrastructure for use of debit cards, a major drive was undertaken between December 2016 and March 2017, resulting in an increase in the number of Point of Sale (PoS) terminals by an additional 12.54 lakh, up from 15.19 lakh as on 30.11.2016. Further, to improve such infrastructure in villages, 2.04 lakh PoS terminals have been sanctioned from the Financial Inclusion Fund by NABARD.

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PFRDA eyes training 64,500 employees to create mass awareness on NPS, APY

PFRDA eyes training 64,500 employees to create mass awareness on NPS, APY

NEW DELHI: Pension regulator PFRDA has appointed IL&FS Skill Development Corporation to train 64,500 government employees and other stakeholders on various aspects of flagship schemes NPS and APY.

The training institute has been appointed to create mass awareness and impart training on National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojna (APY) to the employees of Points of Presence, APY service providers, and corporates of North-West zone.

Nodal officers of central and state governments and those at state autonomous bodies too would be trained, said Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

"It is intended to have at least 50-60 participants in each session of 3-4 hours duration and conduct approximately 1,610 training sessions and train 64,500 participants in the NW zone over the next 12 months," PFRDA said while notifying the training institute.

Participants from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli would be imparted training on various aspects of the two flagship social security programmes.

As on January 17, the overall number of NPS and APY subscribers stood at 1.42 crore, with Asset Under Management (AUM) of Rs 1.61 lakh crore. APY, which guarantees a monthly pension of Rs 1,000 - Rs 5,000, has about 43 lakh subscribers.

As on January 17, the overall number of NPS and APY subscribers stood at 1.42 crore, with Asset Under Management (AUM) of Rs 1.61 lakh crore. APY, which guarantees a monthly pension of Rs 1,000 - Rs 5,000, has about 43 lakh subscribers.

Government May Allow Employees To Raise NPS Fund In Stocks Soon

Government is expected to take a decision soon on a proposal to allow its employees to raise their contribution in stocks as well as choose fund managers under the New Pension System, regulator PFRDA said.

“As you know we have been talking with government to open up the choice of both the fund manager and investment pattern for the government subscribers, these discussions are still going on. The proposals are with the government and hopefully a decision will be taken up by them very shortly,” Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman Hemant G Contractor said today.

Contractor said that government had expressed concerns that all employees would not be able to understand the investment pattern and may end up making wrong choices.

However, PFRDA recently conducted an online survey involving over 10,000 government employees–both central and state, and found that about 48 per cent of the people were pretty aware of financial things, he said.

Contractor said the findings of the survey were quite interesting as almost 48 per cent government employees were having an average financial literacy rate.

“The level of financial literacy was not as bad we thought as. Only about 24 per cent has low score. We passed it on to the government, so we hoping that with the results of the survey, the government will be able to take decisions faster,” he added.

Currently, pension funds under PFRDA are allowed to invest up to 15 per cent of the government employees’ corpus into stock market. While, for private sector employees it is up to 50 per cent.
Among others, PFRDA will also allow NPS subscribers to choose from commercial mortgage based securities or residential mortgaged based securities, units issued by Real Estate Investment Trusts, asset backed securities, units of Infrastructure Investment Trusts under the alternative investment funds (AIF).

As of September 6, 2016 PFRDA regulated NPS and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) together have 1.34 crore subscribers with total Asset under Management (AUM) of Rs 1.45 lakh crore.