All You Need To Know About Atal Pension Scheme

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a government-run pension scheme focused on unorganised sector workers which enables subscribers to earn a fixed monthly pension to the tune of ₹ 1,000-5,000 upon attaining retirement. The Atal Pension scheme is available at India Post branches supporting core-banking solutions. The scheme is available to those between 18 and 40 years of age at the time of subscription. A pre-defined amount is deducted from the bank account of a subscriber as contribution to the retirement corpus under the Atal Pension scheme. The amount of contribution varies depending upon factors such as the subscriber’s age and the choice of monthly pension.

Eligibility: Workers in the age group of 18-40 years can enroll in the Atal Pension scheme. The applicant needs to have a savings account, in a bank or a post office. Each subscriber can only have one Atal Pension account.  

Pension Amount: Currently, the Atal Pension Scheme provides five fixed monthly pension options: ₹ 1,000, ₹ 2,000, ₹ 3,000, ₹ 4,000 and ₹ 5,000.

Contribution: The amount selected at the time of registration is deducted from the subscriber’s account on a monthly, quarterly or half-yearly basis. The amount varies from ₹ 42 and ₹ 1,454 per month. The first instalment is deducted from the subscriber’s savings account at the time of registration.

Mode Of Payment: The contributions are paid at chosen intervals – monthly, quarterly or  half yearly – through auto debits from the linked savings account.

Guaranteed Minimum Pension: The Atal Pension scheme guarantees a minimum pension, which means that the government covers any shortfall in the the actual realised returns in comparison to assumed returns over the period of contribution. On the other hand, any higher returns are paid to the subscriber.

How To Operate Atal Pension Scheme Account: After successful registration, the subscriber only has to maintain the instalment amount in the linked savings account on the due dates to ensure operability.

Delayed Contribution: In case a subscriber does not have sufficient funds in the savings account on the due date, the APY scheme provides an option to pay a delayed instalment along with overdue interest. The contribution is paid the next month along with overdue interest, which is ₹ 1 per month for every ₹ 100 for each delayed monthly contribution. 

Continuous Default: In case of continuous default, account maintenance charges and other related charges are deducted from the Atal Pension account on a periodic basis. Once the account balance in the corpus reaches zero, the account is closed immediately. 

Flexibility: It is possible to switch to a lower or higher amount of monthly contribution under certain circumstances. This window is available only once a year, in the month of April.