Atal Pension Yojana

Objectives

Features

• To encourage voluntary savings for retirement by offering defined pension benefits, linked to the age of joining and amount of contribution.
• To create a universal social security system for all, especially the poor, under-privileged and workers in the unorganized sector.
• To provide financial security in old age

• Ministry: Ministry of Finance
• Launched in: 2015
• Implementing agency: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) under the National Pension System (NPS).
• Type: Central Sector Scheme
• Eligibility: 
  • APY is open to all bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 40 years who are not income tax payers.
  • All eligible family members can join scheme.
• Benefits: 
  • Guaranteed Monthly Pension: Lifelong pension between ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 from age 60 until death.
  • Family Pension Provision: In case of death of subscriber, spouse receives the pension; nominee gets corpus.
  • Premature death of the subscriber (before 60 years of age): Spouse can continue contribution to APY account.
• Payment: Subscribers can make contributions to APY on monthly/ quarterly / half-yearly basis. Depending upon the intended/desired monthly pension and the age of subscriber at entry.
• Exit and Withdrawal Options 
  • Exit at age 60: Full pension begins.
  • Exit before age 60: Permitted only in cases of death or terminal illness.
  • Voluntary Exit: Allowed, but the subscriber only receives the contribution made (with interest) and government co-contribution (if any) is forfeited.
• Government Co-contribution (for Early Joiners): For eligible subscribers who joined between 1 June 2015 and 31 March 2016 (The scheme is continued but without Government Co-contribution).
  • The government co-contributed 50% of the total contribution or ₹1,000 per annum (whichever is lower) for 5 years.
  • This applied only to subscribers not covered under any statutory social security scheme and not income taxpayers at the time.
• Achievements in ten years:
  • Females constitute around 47% of total subscribers enrolled under Scheme 
  • As on April 2025, more than 7.66 crore individuals have subscribed to the scheme.