Atal Pension Yojana to replace Swavalamban Yojana from June 1

The Narendra Modi government's key social security scheme, Atal Pension Yojana (APY), will replace the previous government's Swavalamban Yojana NPS Lite, which did not find much acceptance among people.

The scheme will be launched on June 1 and focus on the unorganised sector. All subscribing workers below the age of 40 would be eligible for pension of up to Rs 5,000 per month on attainment of 60 years of age, Department of Financial Services Secretary Hasmukh Adhia told PTI in an interview

It will be a simple product open to all bank account holders, who are not members of any statutory social security scheme.

"To make the pension scheme more attractive, it has been decided that the government would co-contribute 50 per cent of a subscriber's contribution or Rs 1,000 per annum, whichever is lower to each eligible subscriber account for a period of 5 years from 2015-16 to 2019-20," he said.

The existing scheme was not getting adequate response and therefore a need was felt to revamp the scheme and make it more attractive, simple with guaranteed returns, he added.

Adhia said: "The new pension scheme with better features would replace the existing pension scheme (Swavalamban Yojana NPS Lite) which is targeted at workers of the unorganised sector".

The benefit of government's co-contribution can be availed by those who subscribe to the scheme before December 31, 2015.

Existing subscribers of Swavalamban Scheme would be automatically migrated to Atal Pension Yojana, unless they opt out, Adhia said.

Under the scheme, the subscriber would receive the fixed pension of in the range Rs 1,000-Rs 5,000 per month on attainment of 60 years, depending on contribution which would vary at the age of joining, he said.

The minimum age of joining the scheme is 18 years and maximum age is 40 years, he said. The minimum period of contribution by the subscriber under the scheme would be 20 years.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/atal-pension-yojana-to-replace-swavalamban-yojana-from-june-1/50088.html

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PFRDA aims to open 56 lakh Swavalamban Pension accounts through banks and NBFCs in 2014-15

Chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA), Hemant G Contractor, has urged banks to propagate growth of pension schemes and set a target of opening 70 accounts per branch, amounting to a total target of 56 lacs Swavalamban accounts for the FY 2014-15. The objective is to partner with banks along with NBFCs and work as aggregators to help achieve old age income security and long-term financial inclusion.

Public Sector Banks, regional rural banks, micro-finance institutions and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) with their vast reach and customer base have been registered as aggregators for promotion of Swavalamban scheme. Contractor said, "The Swavalamban scheme has been made an integral part of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). Bankers should take this scheme in a mission mode and work towards achieving the targets in the stipulated time." Contractor was speaking at a conference of aggregators organized by PFRDA.

"Banks should leverage their existing branch network, customer data base, etc. in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), and agriculture & rural sector to promote NPS Lite/Swavalamban. Training of Bank officials, capacity building and publicity of the scheme need also to be attended to," added B.S. Bhandari, Member (Economics), PFRDA.

Swavalamban is a government initiative in which the government co-contributes Rs. 1000/- per annum to all eligible Swavalamban pension accounts. So far, more than 35 lakhs subscriber have opened account under this scheme. Currently, only 12% of the working population is covered under formal pension system.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-11-19/news/56265884_1_swavalamban-pension-swavalamban-scheme-pfrda

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