PFRDA moves closer to one-crore-account target under Atal scheme

Atal Pension Yojana is open to all bank account holders.

The overall number of NPS and APY subscribers has crossed 1.80 crore with total assets under management (AUM) of more than Rs 213,459 crore.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is stepping up its initiative to achieve the target of one crore accounts under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) by the fiscal-end. Focused on the workers in the unorganised sector, PFRDA has already been able to open 73 lakh such accounts so far, Chairman Hemant Contractor said. The regulator is going all out to promote pension scheme in the rural areas with the help of regional rural banks. PFRDA had run a campaign in Uttar Pradesh. It had targeted to open one lakh accounts under the scheme during the 10-day campaign period early this month alone.

“I’m happy to say that PFRDA has already opened 103,000 accounts under the scheme in the state during the campaign. Now, we have started statewide campaign in states like Bihar, MP and Rajasthan. The campaign will be extended to other parts of the country too. Still focus will be on the three states,’’ Contractor said. “The opening of one crore accounts is our internal target,” he said.

Under the APY, the subscribers would receive the fixed minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month, Rs 2,000 per month, Rs 3,000 per month, Rs 4,000 per month and Rs 5,000 per month, at the age of 60 years, depending on their contributions, which itself would be based on the age of joining the APY. Therefore, the benefit of minimum pension would be guaranteed by the government. However, if higher investment returns are received on the contributions of subscribers of APY, higher pension would be paid to the subscribers.

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Atal Pension Yojana is open to all bank account holders. The Central Government would also co-contribute 50 per cent of the total contribution or Rs 1000 per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber for a period of 5 years — from financial year 2015-16 to 2019-20.

Regional rural banks (RRBs) have done exceedingly well in promoting the pension scheme. Baroda Uttar Pradesh Grameen Bank alone opened 17,559 accounts during the campaign. Another RRB, Kashi Gomti Samyukt Grameen Bank opened 14,000 accounts. Similarly, Sarvayukti Grameen Bank opened 12,933 accounts during the campaign. Bank of Baroda, which opened 5,562 accounts, was the best performer among the public sector banks during the campaign.

As on November 10, 2017, more than 6.52 lakh employees of 4,004 registered corporates have joined the New Pension Scheme (NPS) under the NPS corporate model. More than 5.36 lakh subscribers have joined NPS under NPS-all citizen model. The overall number of NPS and APY subscribers has crossed 1.80 crore with total assets under management (AUM) of more than Rs 213,459 crore.

Recently, PFRDA had increased the maximum age of joining NPS from 60 to 65 years — i.e. subscribers in the age group of 18-65 years can join NPS now. Subscribers can open their NPS account — through POPs (points of presence) — with a minimum subscription of Rs 500. NPS account can also be opened through eNPS platform.

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In order to promote NPS under the private sector (all citizen and corporates), PFRDA has appointed points of presence (POPs) – public sector banks, private sector banks and non-banks (financial institutions, financial service providers and other entities) as distribution channels.

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