Atal Pension Yojana: Small steps today for a secured future

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Atal Pension Yojana: Small steps today for a secured future

With the successful implementation of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and embracing a huge population to avail the banking benefits with opening a zero balance account with the continuation of Jan Dhan Yojana, a National Pension Scheme (NPS) which is known as Atal Pension Yojana (“APY”) was affected and passed in the Union Budget of 2015-16 by our honorable Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitley.

ABOUT THE SCHEME

Financial planning for workers in the unorganized sector: Sounds farfetched?
Not really. Atal Pension Yojana (APY), a pension scheme for workers in the unorganized sector
like personal maids, drivers, gardeners etc, was launched in June 2015 by the government.

This social security scheme was introduced as a replacement to previous government’s Swavalamban Yojana NPS Lite, which wasn’t well accepted by people.

APY aims to help these workers save money for their old age while they are working and guarantees returns post retirement. The scheme also promises a co-contribution by Central Government of 50% of the total prescribed contribution by a worker, up to Rs. 1000 per annum, but only to those who joined APY before 31.12.2015. Further, this co-contribution would be made only for 5 years, from FY 2015-16 to 2019-20 in the eligible cases subject to certain conditions.

ELIGIBILITY

 To avail benefits from the Atal Pension Yojana, you must fulfil the below requirements:

  1. Must be a citizen of India.
  2. Must be between the age of 18-40
  3. Should make contributions for a minimum of 20 years.
  4. Must have a bank account linked with your Aadhar
  5. Must have a valid mobile number

Those who are availing benefits of Swavalamban Yojana will be automatically migrated to Atal Pension Yojana.

 

HOW TO APPLY?

Follow these steps to avail the benefits of APY

  1. All nationalized banks provide the scheme. You can visit any of these banks to start your APY account.
  2. Atal Pension Yojana forms are available online and at the bank. You can download the form from the official website.
  3. The forms are available in English, Hindi, Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu.
  4. Fill up the application form and submit it to your bank.
  5. Provide a valid mobile number, if you haven’t already provided to the bank.
  6. Submit a photocopy of your Aadhaar card.

You will be sent a confirmation message when the application is approved.

BENEFITS

Tax Benefit: Tax benefit under Sec. 80 CCD for the contributions made

Guaranteed Pension: Guaranteed minimum pension of Rs.1,000/- to Rs.5,000/- per month. If the actual returns on pension contributions are higher than pension will also be higher.

Pension to the Spouse: In case of death of the subscriber, pension would be available to the spouse.

Corpus to the Nominee: In case of death of the subscriber & the spouse both, then the pension corpus would be returned to the nominee.

CONTRIBUTION AMOUNT

The monthly contribution depends upon the amount of pension you want to receive upon retirement and also the age at which you start contributing. The following table tells you how much you need to contribute per annum based on your age and pension plan.

The goal of the scheme is to ensure that no Indian citizen has to worry about any illness, accidents or diseases in old age, giving a sense of security. Private sector employees or employees working with such an organization that does not provide them pension benefit can also apply for the scheme.

BY

MAITRI BADANI

(Team SSRPN)

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