Encouraged by its strong show on new Atal Pension Yojana (APY) enrolments this fiscal, pension regulator Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA) has now set a higher target to bring in at least 75 lakh new subscribers in 2019-20, a top official said.

“Our aspiration is to have an APY subscriber base of at least 2.25 crore by end-March next fiscal. We have already touched 1.5 crore, a level that we had aimed for this fiscal,” Supratim Bandyopadhyay, Member (Finance), PFRDA, told BusinessLine .

It may be recalled that APY’s subscriber base, at the end of March 2018, was about 97 lakh. PFRDA had already added 53 lakh new APY subscribers this fiscal.

APY became operational on June 1, 2015, and is available to all citizens in the age group of 18 and 40 years.

Under the scheme, a subscriber receives a minimum guaranteed pension of ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 per month, depending on his contribution, from the age of 60 years. The same pension will be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and, on the demise of both, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee.

Still on the radar

Bandyopadhyay also said that PFRDA is still keen on its earlier request to the government that the monthly pension, under APY, be raised to ₹10,000 from the current slab of up to ₹5,000. At present, there are five slabs of pension, from ₹1,000 to 5,000 per month.

There has been a lot of feedback from the market for higher pension amounts as many feel that ₹5,000 at the age of 60, 20 to 30 years from now, will not be sufficient.

PFRDA also wants the maximum age bar to enter the scheme to be raised to 50 years from 40 years now. At present, the age to enter APY is between 18 and 40, but an increase in the same by another 10 years – 18 to 50 years – will help expand the subscriber base, according to PFRDA.

“Both these suggestions of ours have not gone off our radar. We are hopeful it would become reality, although we had expected this in the recent interim Budget itself. We are hopeful that government would allow this next fiscal,” said Bandyopadhyay.

He also felt that the pension scheme for the unorganised sector – Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan Pension Yojana (PMSYM) – announced in the recent interim Budget, will not affect the popularity of Atal Pension Yojana.

There may be benefits such as co-contribution from the government that may tilt the scales in favour of PMSYM, but there are several other aspects that will certainly retain the sheen of APY among prospective subscribers, according to pension industry experts.

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