Atal Pension Yojana is a pension scheme for low-income unorganized sector workers. This is Government of India initiative to provide social security to these people after the age of 60 years. They shall be entitled for monthly pension after their retirement from the work.
Under Atal Pension yojana, the subscribers shall contribute a fixed amount towards their pension corpus and shall be guaranteed to get minimum monthly pension of ₹ 1000, ₹ 2000, ₹ 3000, ₹4000 or ₹ 5000 depending upon their contribution from Rs 42 to Rs 210 per month, after they attain the age of 60 years.
Government shall also contribute 50% of the total contribution or ₹ 1000 every year to the pension corpus, whichever amount is lower if a subscriber subscribes during June 1,2015 to December 31, 2015. Government contribution shall be available for 5 years only, from 2015-2016 to 2019-2020. Government contribution shall not be available for income taxpayers or person covered under other social security scheme.
Eligibility for Atal Pension Yojana
All citizens of India with age between 18-40 years can opt for Atal Pension Yojana provided they fulfil the following criteria –
1. They have a bank account.If they don’t have,they can open an account.
2. They have a valid mobile number.
How to Subscribe to Atal pension Yojana
To subscribe to Atal Pension Yojana, the applicant has to visit a bank branch with whom the bank account is opened and fill an application form. Adhaar Number and Mobile number would be required for application. Adhaar Number would be the KYC or Know Your Client document for subscription.
Adhaar Number is not mandatory for subscribing and the subscriber may provide other document as required by the concerned authority. Subscriber also provides details like nominee name and date of contribution for the pension scheme. Amount shall be debited from the bank account on that fixed date every month through auto-debit mode.
Payment of Pension
At 60 years of age, the beneficiary shall get starting his/her monthly pension from the accumulated pension corpus as per the contributions made. In case of unfortunate death of the subscriber, the pension shall be paid to the spouse or the nominee (in case both are dead).
Defaults by Subscriber
In case subscriber defaults in payment of required contributions due to non maintenance of balance in bank account,the penalty shall be imposed.Penalty shall be according to the contribution opted.It shall vary between ₹ 1 to ₹ 10 per month.
₹ 1/month for ₹ 100 per month contribution.
₹ 2/month for ₹ 101-500 per month contribution.
₹ 5/month for ₹ 501-1000 per month contribution
₹ 10/month for above ₹ 1001 per month contribution.
If payments are discontinued then account shall get frozen after 6 months of last payment.Account shall be deactivated after 12 months of last payment and closed after 24 months.
Tentative contributions required for Atal Pension Yojana
Below are the figures for monthly pension of ₹ 1000 per month. For higher pension, you may get the tentative contribution by multiplying with required numeral.
Age of Joining | Years of contribution | Tentative monthly contribution (Rupees) |
18 | 42 | 42 |
20 | 40 | 50 |
25 | 35 | 76 |
30 | 30 | 116 |
35 | 25 | 181 |
40 | 20 | 291 |