Lok Sabha Question No. 3345 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-18
Subject: Atal Pension Yojana
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: GOPAL CHINAYYA SHETTY, BALASUBRAMANIAM SENGUTTUVAN

## MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

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## LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 3345

TO BE ANSWERED ON 18th DECEMBER, 2015 / AGRAHAYANA 27, 1937 (SAKA) ATAL PENSION YOJANA

†3345. Shri Gopal Shetty and Shri B. Senguttuvan:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has started Atal Pension Yojana (APY) particularly for the poorer section of the society, if so, then details and the salient features thereof;
- (b) the number of subscribers enrolled with the said scheme along with the subscribers who have migrated from the NPS Swavalamban Scheme to the above scheme, as on date, State-wise;
- (c) the financial benefit that would accrue to the beneficiaries as monthly pension under the APY on such migration; and
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to make APY more effective and expand its area of coverage?

## ANSWER

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance (Shri Jayant Sinha)

(a) The Government of India has introduced a pension scheme called the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), with effect from 1 st June, 2015, pursuant to announcement in the budget for 2015-16 on creating a universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor, the under-privileged and the workers in the unorganised sector.

The salient features of the Scheme are as under:

-  Any Indian Citizen between 18-40 years of age can join through their savings bank account.
-  Minimum pension of Rs. 1000 or Rs. 2000 or Rs. 3000 or Rs. 4000 or Rs. 5000 is guaranteed by the Government of India to the subscriber at the age of 60 years, with a minimum monthly contribution (for those joining at age 18) of Rs. 42 or Rs. 84 or Rs. 126 or Rs. 168 or Rs. 210, respectively.
-  After the subscriber's demise, the spouse of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the same pension amount as that of the subscriber until the death of the spouse.
-  After the demise of both the subscriber and the spouse, the nominee of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the pension wealth, as accumulated till age 60 of the subscriber.
-  The subscribers in the eligible age, who are not income-tax payers and who are not covered under any statutory social security scheme, are entitled to

receive the co-contribution by Central Government of 50% of the total prescribed contribution, up to Rs. 1000 per annum, and this will be available for those eligible subscribers, who join APY before 31st December, 2015. The Central Government co-contribution shall be available for a period of 5 years, i.e., from Financial Year 2015-16 to 2019-20.

-  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.

(b) 12.68 lakh subscribers have enrolled under APY as on 12.12.2015. Further, the number of subscribers who have enrolled with the Atal Pension Yojana along with the subscribers who have migrated from the NPS Swavalamban Scheme to APY, as on date, State-wise, is as per Annexure A.

(c) The Atal Pension Yojana is a defined benefit scheme wherein the minimum defined pension amount is guaranteed by the Government. As such all subscribers who have migrated from Swavalamban would be entitled to minimum pension of Rs 1000/-or Rs. 2000/- or Rs 3000/- or Rs 4000/- or Rs 5000/- as per the option chosen by the subscriber. The accumulated corpus of existing Swavalamban subscriber between the age group of 18-40 years who get migrated to APY will be kept under the same PRAN and remain as an additional pension wealth of the subscriber till the time of exit. This additional amount may be given to the subscriber as enhanced pension benefit or as lump-sum withdrawal.

(d) The following steps have been taken by the Government to make APY more effective and expand its area of coverage:

-  Now, the subscriber has the option to pay his contributions under APY at monthly or quarterly or half-yearly intervals. This provision of APY takes care of cases where subscriber earning is seasonal / irregular, such as, in informal sector.
-  Periodic awareness campaigns of APY are being undertaken through various channels, including print and electronic media and special enrolment campaigns.
-  The progress under APY is being strictly monitored at the level of Central Government and PFRDA by conducting regular meetings with the implementation agencies.
-  Capacity building of bank branch officials through various training programs is being undertaken actively. A total of 1443 trainings have been conducted covering 72483 officials of banks and the Department of Posts.
-  State Governments have been requested to facilitate organization of town-hall meetings, undertaking publicity campaigns at the local level and to aggregate the target occupational groups to enable the banks to launch focused enrolment campaigns to encourage people to join APY.
-  The State Level Bankers' Committee meetings as well as meetings with State governments have been organized to create awareness about APY.

Annexure A

## State wise count of APY Subscribers as on December 12, 2015

| Sr. No.   | State Name                | Count of PRANs   |
|-----------|---------------------------|------------------|
| 1         | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | 640              |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh            | 92,628           |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh         | 977              |
| 4         | Assam                     | 23,344           |
| 5         | Bihar                     | 124,606          |
| 6         | Chandigarh                | 2,627            |
| 7         | Chhattisgarh              | 19,640           |
| 8         | Dadra and Nagar Haveli    | 1,075            |
| 9         | Daman & Diu               | 623              |
| 10        | Delhi                     | 36,383           |
| 11        | Goa                       | 5,285            |
| 12        | Gujarat                   | 69,859           |
| 13        | Haryana                   | 31,406           |
| 14        | Himachal Pradesh          | 10,616           |
| 15        | Jammu & Kashmir           | 5,959            |
| 16        | Jharkhand                 | 26,846           |
| 17        | Karnataka                 | 110,426          |
| 18        | Kerala                    | 31,991           |
| 19        | Lakhswadeep               | 139              |
| 20        | Madhya Pradesh            | 52,653           |
| 21        | Maharashtra               | 121,587          |
| 22        | Manipur                   | 2,673            |
| 23        | Meghalaya                 | 3,395            |
| 24        | Mizoram                   | 674              |
| 25        | Nagaland                  | 3,069            |
| 26        | Orissa                    | 67,544           |
| 27        | Pondicherry               | 2,819            |
| 28        | Punjab                    | 23,945           |
| 29        | Rajasthan                 | 40,012           |
| 30        | Sikkim                    | 1,011            |
| 31        | Tamil Nadu                | 102,460          |
| 32        | Telangana                 | 17,112           |
| 33        | Tripura                   | 3,145            |
| 34        | Uttar Pradesh             | 128,181          |
| 35        | Uttaranchal               | 9,531            |
| 36        | West Bengal               | 92,993           |
|           | Total                     | 12,67,874        |

## State wise count of Swavalamban Subscribers who have shifted to APY as on December 12, 2015

| Sr. No.   | State Name                | Count of PRANs   |
|-----------|---------------------------|------------------|
| 1         | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | 1                |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh            | 152              |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh         | -                |
| 4         | Assam                     | 40               |
| 5         | Bihar                     | 85               |
| 6         | Chandigarh                | 11               |
| 7         | Chhattisgarh              | 33               |
| 8         | Dadra and Nagar Haveli    | -                |
| 9         | Daman & Diu               | 1                |
| 10        | Delhi                     | 54               |
| 11        | Goa                       | 10               |
| 12        | Gujarat                   | 339              |
| 13        | Haryana                   | 63               |
| 14        | Himachal Pradesh          | 17               |
| 15        | Jammu & Kashmir           | 8                |
| 16        | Jharkhand                 | 37               |
| 17        | Karnataka                 | 241              |
| 18        | Kerala                    | 103              |
| 19        | Lakhswadeep               | -                |
| 20        | Madhya Pradesh            | 36               |
| 21        | Maharashtra               | 177              |
| 22        | Manipur                   | 1                |
| 23        | Meghalaya                 | 12               |
| 24        | Mizoram                   | -                |
| 25        | Nagaland                  | -                |
| 26        | Orissa                    | 118              |
| 27        | Pondicherry               | 31               |
| 28        | Punjab                    | 84               |
| 29        | Rajasthan                 | 122              |
| 30        | Sikkim                    | 10               |
| 31        | Tamil Nadu                | 215              |
| 32        | Telangana                 | 34               |
| 33        | Tripura                   | 2                |
| 34        | Uttar Pradesh             | 168              |
| 35        | Uttaranchal               | 31               |
| 36        | West Bengal               | 383              |
|           | Total                     | 2,619            |