What Is Atal Pension Yojana Scheme And How To Enroll For It?

Atal Pension Yojana is a social security scheme that was launched by the government of India in June 2015 after its announcement in the Union Budget 2015-16. Initially targeted primarily at workers in the unorganized sector like maid, watchmen, gardener etc., the scheme has now been extended to include all of the country's citizens and aims to meet their post-retirement financial needs by providing a regular income stream (importantly the pension in the scheme is decided basis the subscriber's contribution). The scheme in fact replaced the earlier Swavalamban Yojana which did not receive wide-acceptance.

What Is Atal Pension Yojana (APY) Scheme And How To Enroll For It?

As per the APY scheme, subscribers are given the choice to get fixed monthly pension amount of Rs. 1000, Rs. 2000, Rs. 3000, Rs. 4000 and Rs. 5000 by paying some pre-specified amount. Say if the person enters the scheme or enrolls under the scheme at the age of 18 years, for getting a pension of Rs. 5000/ month, he will be required to contribute a monthly sum of Rs. 210.

Here is a table given below for the subscription amount that you would need to pay on a monthly basis for getting a specific pension amount after attaining 60 years of age under APY:

Age of Entry	Years of Contribution	Monthly pension of Rs1000	Monthly pension of Rs 2000	Monthly pension of Rs 3000	Monthly pension of Rs 4000	Monthly pension of Rs 5000
18	42	42	84	126	168	210
19	41	46	92	138	183	228
20	40	50	100	150	198	248
21	39	54	108	162	215	269
22	38	59	117	177	234	292
23	37	64	127	192	254	318
24	36	70	139	208	277	346
25	35	76	151	226	301	376
26	34	82	164	246	327	409
27	33	90	178	268	356	446
28	32	97	194	292	388	485
29	31	106	212	318	423	529
30	30	116	231	347	462	577
31	29	126	252	379	504	630
32	28	138	276	414	551	689
33	27	151	302	453	602	752
34	26	165	330	495	659	824
35	25	181	362	543	722	902
36	24	198	396	594	792	990
37	23	218	436	654	870	1,087
38	22	240	480	720	957	1,196
39	21	264	528	792	1,054	1,318
40	20	291	582	873	1,164	1,454

Eligibility for subscribing to Atal Pension Yojana

• Any Indian citizen aged between 18 and 40 years can enroll under the scheme
• He or she can be a private sector employee or may be employed with an organization that does not offer pension benefit.
• Bank or post office savings account linked with your Aadhaar is another requirement to open an APY account
• You should also hold a valid mobile number
• Also the person should not be holding any other pension account

How to enroll or apply for Atal Pension Yojana?

Banks both from the private and public sector are registered with the PFRDA for the purpose of processing APY accounts.

There are 2 ways to apply for Atal Pension Yojana account

1. By physically visiting a bank or post office where you maintain your savings account:

In this process, a subscriber would need to fill the applicable form for opening APY account and submit the same with the bank or post office. Also KYC norms will have be fulfilled. In some of the cases where you maintain the savings bank account with the bank you are approaching for opening the APY account, they may extract the KYC information from your account itself, relieving you from more hassles.

Say in as the case of HDFC Bank you would just need to tell the bank rep over there your bank account number, and he or she will help you to enroll for the scheme via the APY module. The subscriber will not need to fill any form as most of the details are pre-filled.

2. Through online banking:

ICICI Bank, SBI Bank and Bank of Baroda among others allow their customers to enroll for the APY account via their net banking or mobile app.

Say for instance ICICI Bank customers after logging into their net banking account need to follow the below steps to enroll for APY:

Step 1: On the left side menu bar, click on the 'View All' option flashing in front of 'Services'

Step 2: Then you will be taken to a new page where you can search for Service Request

Step 3: After you write Atal Pension Yojana there you will be directed to the Enroll for Atal Pension Yojana page.

Step 4: After you complete the form and agree to all the specified terms and conditions, you need to click on the 'Submit' tab. The bank will process your request and open the APY account in your name.

Importantly the different details asked in the APY form include pension amount sought, contribution frequency, nominee name and relationship with the nominee.

3. Without net banking or mobile app:

For those of you, who have a savings bank account but do not access net banking facility PFRDA allowed APY-PoPs to come up with an alternate and simpler way to facilitate online onboarding to the APY scheme. Here are the steps for the same:

Step 1: Visit the website of the bank offering online APY account opening facility.

Step 2: Now you have to give any two of these details including savings bank account number, customer ID, PAN or aadhaar. Registration will be completed via OTP verification.

Step 3: As and when the registration is completed successfully, APY applicant will be provided access to the web form wherein some fields will be auto-populated and others such as pension amount, frequency of auto-debit, nomination etc. will have to be given by the subscriber.

Step 4: Standing instruction as well as APY enrollment form is to be given to the banks online via OTP authentication or e-signatures. And in a case when the subscriber cannot e-sign or give OTP, he or she can wet sign the form and deposit the same with his or her bank branch.

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