Centre examines proposal to raise age limit of Atal pension plan

There is also a plan to add slabs to make the scheme more attractive.

 

New Delhi: The Centre is “examining” the proposal of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) of raising the maximum age limit of the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) from 40 to 50 years.

While replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “The PFRDA has submitted a proposal to increase the limit of pension and age under the Atal Pension Yojana and the same is under examination in consultation with the PFRDA.”

At present, the total number of subscribers of the scheme is 1.6 crore.

Besides increasing the maximum age limit for entering the scheme, there is also a plan to add more slabs in order to make it more attractive. At present, the maximum guaranteed pension in the scheme is Rs 5,000 per month. If the proposal is accepted, the highest slab could be up to Rs 10,000, a source said. The earlier pension scheme—Swavalamban—was merged with the APY.

Currently, the minimum age of joining the scheme is 18 years and maximum is 40 years. Accordingly, Mudra beneficiaries, self-help group members and anganwadi workers, who are between 18-40 years of age, are eligible to join the APY. As per the proposal, the age limit should be increased to 50 years so that more people join the scheme and benefit from it. However, those joining at a higher age will have to pay higher contributions.

It is to be noted that the government recently raised the maximum age limit for joining the National Pension Scheme (NPS), another pension scheme, from 60 years to 65 years. The subscribers’ base under the scheme, under the eye of PFRDA, has reached about 1.2 crore.

The Authority has taken various initiatives for the expansion of outreach and ease of operations under the scheme, which includes online facility to view statement of account and ePRAN (Permanent Retirement Account Number) card for easy access of account of APY subscribers.

The scheme became operational from June 2015 and is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years. Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1,000-Rs 5,000 per month, depending upon his contribution, from the age of 60 years. The same pension is paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both the subscriber and spouse, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee. The APY scheme follows the same investment pattern as applicable to the NPS contribution of Central government employees.