The Buyt Desk
The Atal Pension Yojna(APY) is a social security scheme run by the Government of India. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority(PFRDA) regulates this scheme. The purpose of APY is to ensure a guaranteed pension to people who are working in the unorganised sector. Under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), more than 28 lakh new APY accounts have been opened during FY 2021-22. Overall, enrolments under APY have crossed 3.30 crore as of 25th August 2021. The Government of India wants more and more people to enrol in APY so that they can have dignified life after they stop working. The government has made few changes in this scheme to make it more flexible and adaptable. Before we talk about the new changes let us first understand the scheme.
How Do Atal Pension Yoojna works?
The unorganised workforce who are working in the private sector or are earning daily wages in professions like a driver, factory worker or waiter can benefit from APY. These people are not covered under any pension or retirement programme and have no investments to support them in their non-working phase of life. But Atal Pension Yojna enables them to invest as low as Rs 42 and safeguard their old age. A guaranteed pension of Rs 1000, 2000, 3000, 40000 or 5,000 can be earned by making a contribution for at least 20 years. The subscriber will get the pension after he/she turns 60 years of age. The enrollment age for APY is 18-40 years of age.
Premium Calculation
The amount of premium will depend upon two factors- the age of the subscriber and the guaranteed pension that he/she opts for. This can be illustrated with an example. A 25 years old individual who wants Rs.1000 as the monthly pension will have to pay a monthly premium of Rs.76 for 35 years. To get a pension of Rs.2000, he will have to pay Rs.151. But if he starts this scheme at the age of 35 then he will have to pay a premium of Rs 181 for a pension of Rs 1000 and payment tenure would be 25 years. But if he wants a pension of Rs 2000 then his monthly premium will rise to Rs 362.
5 New Features Of Atal Pension Yoojna
1. Upgrade and Downgrade of Premium and Pension
The subscribers are now allowed to modify the amount of premium once a year. They can either increase the premium and opt for a higher pension or on the contrary, can also decide to decrease the amount if their money flow is obstructed for some reason. This is allowed only once a year and a charge of Rs 50 will have to be paid by the subscriber for this modification.
2. PRAN Card
APY Subscriber can get a physical PRAN(Permanent Retirement Account Number) card by logging on to the eNPS portal. The NPS website has an instruction link that will guide them to print APY PRAN cards.
3. Continuation Process after the untimely death of the subscriber
In case of the death of the subscriber before completing the age of 60years his/her spouse can continue the contribution. The spouse will be issued a new PRAN and he/she can continue till the time the original/deceased subscriber attains the age of 60.
4. FATCA- Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
Every new subscriber to APY will be filling an additional FATCA self-declaration at the time of registration. This is mandatory now for all the new registration.
5. APY App
APY App is available on the Google play store. The subscriber with smartphones can download the app and easily check their contribution details and transaction details
