Atal Pension Yojana subscribed by over 69 lakh

The Atal Pension Yojana has over 69 lakh subscribers with contribution of Rs 2,690 crore, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman Hemant G. Contractor has said.

Contractor was speaking at a conference here on Atal Pension Yojana (APY) organised by PFRDA, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

He, however, emphasised the need of increasing the pension coverage in India, it said.

"A large section of the society still does not have access to pensions and this is a cause of concern for PFRDA and government. APY has made progress in covering the intended subscribers but much remains to be done," Contactor said.

He mentioned that on an average, a little less than 2 per cent of the eligible population is covered under APY and hence a lot has to be done to provide people a regular access to old age income.

He also touched upon the issues of persistence in the APY accounts and asserted that the objective of the scheme is to provide pension and this will only happen if the contribution in the account has been regularly paid.

Contractor asked the APY service providers to educate the subscribers on the importance of the same.

He also urged the APY Service Providers i.e. banks and post offices under the Department of Post to achieve the targets allocated by the government by putting in their best efforts.

Rajiv Kumar, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, said that the pension coverage in this country is at around 12 per cent and banks and other stakeholders need to work towards greater coverage under the scheme.

He also said that the government was monitoring the progress under the scheme and targets allocated to banks should be accomplished.

--IANS

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