Windfall gain for the poor?

Workers joining the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan Scheme for the informal sector will get a better return on their savings if they enrol later in their careers

Piyush Goyal stumped critics of the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) by proposing the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan Scheme (PM-SYM) for labourers in the informal sector in the Budget for 2019-20, which has several novel features. In particular, it remedies two major problems associated with the APY.

First, the government’s contribution, equal to that made by members of the scheme, which was initially for five years, was withdrawn within a year of the APY’s launch for new beneficiaries. Under the PM-SYM, however, the government promises to maintain its contribution during the total period of accumulation (until the age of 60).

Second, the