FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - ATAL PENSION YOJANA

OPENING OF APY ACCOUNT

1. What is pension? Why do I need it?

A Pension provides a monthly income to the people during their unproductive years.

Need for Pension:

• Decreased income earning potential with age.
• The rise of nuclear Family
• Migration of earning members
• Rise in cost of living.
• Increased longevity.
• Dignified life in the old age due to less financial dependence.

2. What is Atal Pension Yojana?

Atal Pension Yojana (APY), a pension scheme launched by Government of India is focused on the unorganized sector workers. Under the APY, minimum guaranteed pension of Rs. 1,000/- or 2,000/- or 3,000/- or 4,000 or 5,000/- per month will start after attaining the age of 60 years depending on the contributions by the subscribers for their chosen pension amount

3. Who can subscribe to APY?

Any Citizen of India can join APY scheme. The following are the eligibility criteria: -

• The age of the subscriber should be between 18 and 40 years.
• He / She should have a savings bank account/ post office savings bank account

The prospective applicants may provide mobile number to the bank during their Enrolments under APY to receive periodic updates on their APY account as well as on APY scheme. Aadhaar may also be provided at the time of enrolment as APY scheme is notified for the same.

4. Whether an employee of Central/State Government or Public Sector Undertaking and/or a NPS subscriber can subscribe to APY?

• YES, any Indian citizen within the age group of 18 - 40 years, can join APY Scheme irrespective of his/her employment status with Govt./Public Sector, for availing benefits guaranteed by Government of India under the scheme
• Further, an existing NPS subscriber can also subscribe to APY, if he/she meetsthe basic eligibility criteria, for availing benefits guaranteed by Government of India; under the scheme.

5. What are the benefits of joining APY scheme?

The benefit of minimum pension under Atal Pension Yojana would be guaranteed by the Government in the sense that if the actual realized returns on the pension contributions are less than the assumed returns for minimum guaranteed pension, over the period of contribution, such shortfall shall be funded by the Government. On the other hand, if the actual returns on the pension contributions are higher than the assumed returns for minimum guaranteed pension, over the period of contribution, such enhanced scheme benefits shall be passed on to the subscribers

The Government of India had co-contributed 50% of the total contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber, who joined the scheme during the period 1st June, 2015 to 31st March, 2016 and who is not a beneficiary of any social security scheme and is not an income tax payer. The Government co-contribution will be given for 5 years from the Financial Year 2015-16 to the Financial Year 2019-20.

6. What is the procedure for opening APY Account?

Approach the bank branch/ post office where individual’s savings bank account is held or open a savings account if the subscriber doesn’t have one.

7. Whether Aadhaar Number is compulsory for joining the scheme?

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has now been included under the Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act. As per the provisions of the Act, any individual who is eligible to receive such benefits under the APY will have to furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar number or undergo enrolment under Aadhaar authentication. Hence, it is desirable to provide Aadhaar Number for proper identification of the subscriber

8. Can I open APY Account without savings bank account?

No, the savings bank account/ post office savings bank account is mandatory for joining APY.

9. Is it required to furnish nomination while joining the scheme?

Yes. It is mandatory to provide nominee details in APY account.

10. Is there any provision of default nominee or blood relation?

If the subscriber is Unmarried they can nominate any other person as nominee and they have to provide spouse details after marriage. If married, the spouse will be the default nominee. The Aadhaar details of spouse and nominees may be provided.

11. How many APY accounts I can open?

A subscriber can open only one APY account. Multiple APY accounts are not permitted.

12. Can minor open APY account?

No. A minor cannot open an APY account.

13. If I have completed 40 years, can I join Atal Pension Yojana?

No, currently a person who is in age group of 18 years to 39 years 364 days can join Atal Pension Yojana.

14. Whether NRI is eligible to open APY Account?

Yes, NRI in the age group 18-40 years of age having a bank account with APY POP is eligible to open APY account.

15. After opening of APY account, what will happen if a subscriber becomes non-citizen of the country?

The scheme is open to the Indian citizens only. Hence, in that event the APY account will be closed and the net actual interest earned on his contributions (after deducting the account maintenance charges) will be refunded, whereas, the Government co-contribution, and the interest earned on the Government co-contribution, shall not be returned to such subscribers.

II. ACCUMULATION PHASE UNDER APY

16. What amount one needs to contribute towards APY?

The contribution amount shall depend on the age of the subscriber at the time of opening of APY account, frequency of contribution and the pension slab chosen. The age wise, frequency wise and pension slab wise contribution table is provided as Annexure for reference.

17. What is the mode and frequency of contributions to the APY account?

The contributions can be made at monthly / quarterly / half yearly intervals through auto debit facility from savings bank account/ post office savings bank account of the subscriber.

18. What is the due date for contribution under APY?

APY contributions will be collected through auto-debit of their savings bank account/ post office savings bank account on any date of the particular month, in case of monthly contributions or any day of the first month of the quarter, in case of quarterly contributions or any day of the first month of the half year, in case of half-yearly contributions.

19. What will happen if the contribution gets delayed?

Subscriber will be charged overdue interest for the delayed period in case the APY contribution gets delayed beyond the due date.

20. How the overdue interest is calculated in case of delayed contribution?

Banks are required to collect Rs. 1 per month for contribution of every Rs. 100, or part thereof, for each delayed monthly contributions. The overdue interest amount collected will remain as part of the pension corpus of the subscriber. More than one monthly / quarterly / half yearly contribution can be recovered subject to availability of the funds.

21. What will happen if required or sufficient amount is not maintained in the savings bank account for contribution on the due date?

Non-maintenance of required balance in the savings bank account for contribution on the specified date will be considered as default. Airtel Payments Bank shall collect additional amount for delayed payments. The penalty charged will be Re. 1 per Rs. 100 contribution amount. The overdue interest amount collected will remain as part of the pension corpus of the subscriber. More than one monthly / quarterly / half yearly contribution can be recovered subject to availability of the funds. In all cases, the contribution amount of the month / quarter / half year is to be recovered along with the overdue charges if any. The due amount will be recovered as and when funds are available in the account. Illustration: In the example below, total amount Rs. 354 will be transferred into the PRAN.

22. What will happen to APY account in case of continuous default?

Deduction would continue to be made in the subscriber’s APY account for account maintenance charges and other related charges on a periodic basis till it becomes zero.

23. How the contributions are invested in APY?

The contributions under APY are invested as per the investment guidelines prescribed by PFRDA for Central Government / State Government / NPS-Lite / Swavalamban Scheme / APY. The contributions thus collected are invested and the funds are managed by namely SBI Pension Fund Pvt. Ltd, LIC Pension Fund Ltd, UTI Retirement Solution Ltd.

III. SUBSCRIBER RELATED SERVICES UNDER APY

24. Whether various forms under APY are available online?

Yes, various Forms under APY can be accessed online at https://www.npscra.nsdl.co.in/nsdlforms.php

25. Will there be any option to increase or decrease the monthly contribution for higher or lower pension amount?

• Yes, a subscriber can opt to decrease or increase pension amount during the course of accumulation phase, once a financial year.
• For upgradation, the subscribers have to pay the differential amount of contribution at the rate of 8% p.a. on monthly compounding basis whereas in the case of down gradation, the excess amount of contribution collected from the subscriber would be refunded to the subscribers along with the returns generated.
• For upgradation or down gradation, other than error cases, the subscribers would be required to pay a fee of Rs. 50, which will be shared equally by PoP-APYSP and CRA.

26. How will I know the status of my contribution?

The periodical information to the subscribers regarding activation of PRAN, balance in the account, contribution credits etc. will be intimated to APY subscribers by way of SMS alerts on the registered mobile number or can be accessed through mobile/APY app launched by NSDL. The subscriber will also be receiving physical Statement of Account once a financial year at their registered address

27. Will I get any statement of transactions?

YES. The physical statement of APY account will be provided to the subscribers annually at the registered address.

28. If I move my residence / city, how can I make contributions to APY account?

The APY contributions will continue to collected through auto debit of the same Savings Account uninterruptedly even in case of change of residence / location. As contribution collection is done through bank account which is CBS enabled, subscriber can continue contributing through same savings bank account, even if the residence is changed.

29. If I am an existing subscriber of APY, can I change my monthly auto debit facility to Quarterly or Half Yearly as per my convenience?

Yes, the subscriber can change the mode (monthly/ quarterly/half yearly) of auto debit facility once in a year by calling at the Airtel Payments Bank customer care numbers 400(Airtel) or 8800688006(Others).

30. Is there any helpline number dedicated to APY Scheme where queries related to APY Scheme can be addressed?

Yes, the Toll Free Helpline number for APY Scheme is 1800-110-069

IV. TAXATION AND CHARGES UNDER APY

31. Will I get any tax benefits under APY Scheme?

Tax benefits available under NPS scheme are same under APY Scheme as per

Notification No. 7 /2016, F.No.173/394/2015-ITA-I dated 19th Feb, 2016

32. What are the fee and charges involved in maintaining the APY account?

Table of all charges and fees of APY

V. EXIT UNDER APY

33. What is the withdrawal procedure from APY?

The subscribers will submit the request to the associated bank/Post office for drawing the guaranteed minimum monthly pension or higher monthly pension, if investment returns are higher than the guaranteed returns embedded in APY. Upon successful submission of the request, the subscriber receives monthly pension depending on the contributions by the subscriber. The same amount of monthly pension is payable to spouse (default nominee) upon death of subscriber. Nominee will be eligible for return of pension wealth accumulated till age 60 years of the subscriber, upon death of both the subscriber andspouse.

34. Whether exit from APY Scheme is permitted before 60 years of age? If yes, what are the benefits?

Yes, Voluntary exit under APY before 60 years of age is permitted. The subscriber shall only be refunded the contributions made by him to APY along with the net actual accrued income earned on his contributions (after deducting the account maintenance charges).

However, in case of subscribers who joined the scheme before 31st March 2016 and received Government Co-Contribution shall not receive the Government co-contribution and the accrued income earned on the same, if opted for Voluntary exit before 60 years.

35. What one will get in case of death before 60 years?

• Option 1: In case of death of the subscriber before 60 years, option will be available to the spouse of the subscriber to continue contribution in the APY account of the subscriber, which can be maintained in the spouse’s name, for the remaining vesting period, till the original subscriber would have attained the age of 60 years. The spouse of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the same pension amount as the subscriber until death of the spouse. Such APY account and pension amount would be in addition to even if the spouse has his/her APY account and pension amount in own name.
• Option 2: The entire accumulated corpus till date under APY will be returned to the spouse / nominee.

Account Closure Form for death is available on Airtel.in. It can be downloaded from there, filled in and send it to Airtel Center Office along with list of documents mentioned in the form for further processing. If spouse also died then the pension corpus would be returned to the nominee mentioned in the scheme.

36. What are the benefits under APY Scheme upon exit on attaining 60 years?

The subscriber shall receive the following three benefits on attaining the age of 60:

• (i) Guaranteed minimum pension amount: Each subscriber under APY shall receive a Government of India guaranteed minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month or Rs. 2000 per month or Rs. 3000 per month or Rs. 4000 per month or Rs. 5000 per month, after the age of 60 years until death.
• (ii) Guaranteed minimum pension amount to the spouse: After the subscriber’s demise, the spouse of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the same pension amount as that of the subscriber,until the death of the spouse.
• (iii) Return of the pension wealth to the nominee of the subscriber: After the demise of both the subscriber and the spouse, the nominee of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the pension wealth, as accumulated till age 60 years of the subscriber.

VI. NP-S SWAVALAMBAN AND APY

37. Is migration from NPS Lite/ Swavalamban Scheme to APY possible?

The Swavalamban Subscribers between 18 to 40 years of age are eligible to migrate to APY.

38. What is the process of migration from NPS Lite/ Swavalamban Scheme to APY?

The eligible swavalamban subscribers who wish to migrate to APY shall fill up the enrollment form for migration to APY and submit the same along with the copy of PRAN card to the nearest APY Service Provider for registration. Subsequent to the registration, the subscriber will be mapped to the bank branch. The PRAN amount balance under Swavalamban Scheme will be shifted to APY Scheme on T+1 basis.

39. What will happen to the contribution already accumulated under NPS Lite/ Swavalamban Scheme after migration to APY?

The accumulated corpus of existing NPS Lite/Swavalamban subscriber between the age group of 18 and 40 years, who get migrated to APY will be kept under the same PRAN and remain as an additional wealth of the subscriber till the time of exit. This additional amount may be given to the subscriber as enhanced pension benefit or as lump-sum withdrawal, as the case may be. The contribution of such subscribers under APY, after migration from the NPS Lite/Swavalamban Scheme to APY, would be as per the amount mentioned in the Annex –I, depending on the pension amount selected and the age of the subscriber.

40. Whether NPS Lite/ Swavalamban Subscriber can exit from the Scheme?

Yes, the subscribers under the NPS Lite/Swavalamban Scheme who do not wish to continue under the Scheme may exit from the scheme as per the guidelines applicable and withdraw the entire amount in lump sum or may prefer to continue till the age of 60 years to be eligible for benefits as per the scheme.

VII. APY IN SOCIAL MEDIA

41. Whether information related to APY is available on social media?

Yes, APY pages are available on social media on the following links:

• Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAPY/
• PFRDA page available at:
• Linkedin-https://www.linkedin.com/in/pfrda-pension-fund-regulator-of-india051614168/?originalSubdomain=in
• Youtube-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLMx1eZWY-LDeyIWCwYu15Q
• APY Ki Pathshala on Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5SuHg-O6ipH1J_HTfU17ug
• Twitter-https://twitter.com/pfrdaofficial?lang=en

VIII. Miscellaneous

42. Is there any steps taken by Govt of India/ PFRDA regarding stoppage of auto-debit for APY contributions considering the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic?

Kindly refer PFRDA’s circular No: PFRDA/2020/8/P&D-APY/1. dated 11.04.2020 with the subject “Stoppage of Auto-debit for APY contributions till 30th June, 2020”. Further, auto-debit will start from 1st July, 2020. If APY contributions from April, 2020 to August, 2020 get regularised by 30th Sept, 2020; then no penal interest would be charged to the subscriber.

43. For how many Years the Government will co-contribute?

The co-contribution of the Government of India is available for 5 years, i.e., from the Financial Year 2015-16 to 2019-20 for the subscribers, who join the scheme during the period from 1st June, 2015 to 31st March, 2016 and who are not covered by any Statutory Social Security Scheme and are not income tax payers. The Government co- contribution would be payable to the eligible subscribers by the Pension Fund regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), after receiving the confirmation from Central Record Keeping Agency-NSDL to the effect that the subscriber has paid all the instalments for the concerned financial year. In such cases, Government co-contribution will be credited in subscriber’s savings bank account/ post office savings bank account which would be 50% of the total APY contribution, subject to a maximum of Rs 1000/-,at the end of financial year. However, some State Governments also make co-contribution to for APY subscribers in their respective states, as per their notifications.

Annex – 1 Monthly, Quarterly and Half-yearly contributions under APY for different minimum guaranteed amount of pension at different age entry and the return of corpus amount to the nominee