Centre contributes Rs 99.57 cr to Atal Pension Yojana

The government has released Rs 99.57 crore as its contribution for the year 2015-16 for 16.96 lakh eligible subscribers of Atal Pension Yojana (APY), it was announced here on Monday.

The scheme provides for government's co-contribution which is half of the subscriber's contribution up to a maximum of Rs 1,000 per annum, said a finance ministry statement.

"Only those subscribers who are not income tax payers and not part of any other social security schemes are eligible for government co-contribution," it said.

The subscribers will be eligible for co-contribution for a period of five years from 2015-16 to 2019-20.

"Keeping in view the above, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has released co-contribution for 16.96 lakh eligible subscribers amounting to Rs 99.57 crore for 2015-16," the statement said.

The total number of subscribers registered under APY has crossed 30 lakh on June 30, 2016, with 5,000 new subscribers being added nearly every day, it said.

APY is being implemented through the public sector banks, private sector banks, regional rural banks, cooperative banks and department of post both in urban and rural areas across the country.

"The subscribers who have any pending contributions in their APY account till March 2016 won't be paid with co-contribution. They have been advised by PFRDA to regularise their APY account so as to get government co-contribution in the month of September," the statement said.

Government's co-contribution is payable only when accounts are regular and the admissible co-contribution is paid into the savings bank account of the subscribers, it said.

APY provides minimum guaranteed pension ranging between Rs 1,000-5,000 per month for the subscriber from the age of 60 years. The same amount of pension is paid to the spouse in case of subscriber's death.

After the death of both the original subscriber and their spouse, the nominee would be paid the pension corpus.

There is also the option for the spouse to continue to contribute to APY account of the original subscriber for balance period, on premature death of the subscriber before 60 years, so that pension goes to the spouse.

"If the actual returns on the pension contributions during the accumulation phase is higher than the assumed returns for the minimum guaranteed pension, such excess returns are passed on to the subscriber, resulting in enhanced scheme benefits," the statement said.

--IANS

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