District lags much behind in Atal Pension Scheme

The Pradhan Mantri Atal Pension Scheme has received only 1,279 applications so far mainly because of the apathy of the implementing agencies and scheme's failure to convince the potential beneficiaries. Though the installment is very low, very few people have participated in it. As per the figures shared by the district lead bank, Bank of India, 608 applications from rural areas have received for the scheme while 671 from urban areas. Out of...

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Centre releases Rs 2,000 crore for pension scheme

This is in addition to the Rs 250 crore contributed by the central government as grant-in-aid for providing minimum pension of Rs 1,000 to the pensioners of Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995. The union government has released Rs 2,000 crore to the Employees' Pension Scheme as its contribution for the year 2015-16, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya said on Monday. This is in addition to the Rs 250 crore contributed by the central government as grant-in-aid for providing minimum pension of Rs 1,000 to the pensioners...

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Banks to calculate, disburse 6 % dearness relief to pensioners

New Delhi, All pension disbursing authorities including nationalised banks have been asked to calculate the quantum of dearness relief payable to pensioners, after the recent six per cent increase in it by the government. The move comes following a decision by the Union Cabinet early this month regarding six per cent hike (from existing 113 to 119 per cent) in dearness allowance (DA) to central government employees and dearness relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from July 1, 2015.  With the increase, central government employees and pensioners...

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APY the subscriber may actually be getting a sub optimal return

In the recent budget, the Finance Minister announced the Atal Pension Yojana, which promises a fixed pension of at least Rs.1,000 at age 60 if subscribers contribute pre-defined amounts over their working life. The APY suffers from five problems. 1. Clarity of objective The NPS-Swavalamban (NPS-S) has been the flagship pension scheme for the informal sector since 2010. While it has taken root over the last few years, problems in the design and...

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India aims to created under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana to extend insurance

The Government of India is joining the UN-based Better Than Cash Alliance. The announcement comes on the First Anniversary of the Prime Minister  Narendra Modi’s flagship financial inclusion programme Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). Under PMJDY, in one year, about 180 million new accounts have been opened, with deposits totaling more than $3.4 billion (223 billion Rupees). The new partnership with the Better Than Cash Alliance,...

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Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has been modified to make it more acceptable

Pension scheme Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has been modified to make it more viable and acceptable for informal sector workers with intermittent incomes, an official statement said on Thursday. The provision of mandatory monthly contributions and penal provisions for non-contribution towards the scheme by subscribers have been removed and the new rules allow individual subscribers to make monthly, quarterly or half yearly contributions instead, a finance ministry statement said. The discontinuation of monetary contribution towards the pension...

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India’s retired military men keep interest rates higher in Asia’s third-largest economy?

Will a new multi-billion dollar bill to take care of India’s retired military men keep interest rates higher in Asia’s third-largest economy? Since New Delhi agreed over the weekend to demands from members of the military for a more generous pension scheme, analysts have aired doubts about the ability of the government to stick to its fiscal plans. Any concern that the government is unable to stick to its fiscal targets could delay a lowering...

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APY Subscribers can make half-yearly, quarterly payments

To increase the subscription of the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) among informal sector workers and make the scheme more viable, the government has modified the flagship programme to give subscribers an option to make contributions on a monthly, quarterly or half-yearly basis, instead of only on a monthly basis earlier. Also, the provision related to the discontinuation of payment of contribution has been substantially modified in favour of the subscriber,...

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Pensions regulator PFRDA asks banks to process APY contributions quickly

Pensions regulator PFRDA has flayed banks for not adhering to timelines for processing contributions to recently launched Atal pension yojana (APY), which is among the key social security schemes launched by prime minister Narendra Modi in May. The regulator has a daunting task of getting two crore subscribers for Atal pension yojana by this year end and as of now it has about five lakh subscribers enrolled. And tardy processing of contributions...

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In July India's pension fund to start equity investments

NEW DELHI: Starting in July, India's state-run pension and social security fund will invest about $800 million in equities in the current fiscal year, labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya said, in a long-awaited move that may help finance an ambitious privatization programme. The more than $100 billion Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) intends to place an initial 1 per cent of its investments in exchange traded funds, increasing to...

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PARRIKAR SAYS, GOOD NEWS ON ONE RANK, ONE PENSION SOON

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said that Army can expect ‘good news soon’ on the issue of one rank, one pension (OROP). In the city for cantonment board meeting, the minister said: “Our commitment to implement the OROP remains intact. I cleared the file as soon as it came to my notice.” When asked whether the issue could be put before Parliament in the monsoon session starting July 21, the minister said that it was difficult to...

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PFRDA asked subscribers of NPS Swavalamban scheme to join the Atal pension yojana (APY)

Pension fund regulator PFRDA has asked subscribers of NPS Swavalamban scheme to join the Atal pension yojana (APY), which offers guaranteed minimum monthly pension of Rs 1,000-5,000 to the subscriber after 60 years. NPS Swabhalamban scheme has significant amount of subscribers and if all them opt for newly launched Atal pension yojana, it will help PFRDA reach the 2-crore subscriber target for this year. NPS Lite and Swavalamban schemes combined...

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Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a National Pension Scheme (NPS) Rules and FAQs

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) – Scheme DetailsThe Government of India is extremely concerned about the old age income security of the working poor and is focused on encouraging and enabling them to join the National Pension System (NPS). To address the longevity risks among the workers in unorganised sector and to encourage the workers in unorganised sector to voluntarily save for their retirement, who constitute 88% of the total labour force of 47.29 crore as per the 66th Round of NSSO Survey of 2011-12, but do not have any formal pension provision,...

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Atal Pension Yojana to boost New Pension System corpus by Rs 50K crore

MUMBAI: Pension fund regulator PFRDA is hopeful of increasing the corpus of New Pension System (NPS) by Rs 40,000-50,000 crore by the fiscal-end, driven by subscription to a newly launched social security scheme.The Centre has launched Atal Pension Yojana (APY) targeted at people in the unorganised sector who wish to join NPS and are not a member of any other social security plan.Assets under management (AUM) of NPS currently stands at around...

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6.7 cr people enrolled under 3 social security schemes in india

Nearly seven crore people have been enrolled as on day under the three social security schemes launched by Prime Minister Narandra Modi.Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched three schemes -- Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY).ADVERTISING"They started in May 9 and today we are on. As of yesterday evening, PMSBY has reached 5.19 crore policies....

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PM Modi to launch social security insurance, pension schemes on May 9

On the lines of Jan Dhan mega rollout, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch on May 9 social security insurance and pension schemes in Kolkata, while other ministers will unveil them in different cities."There would be simultaneous functions across various states with participations from chief ministers and cabinet ministers. It would be like Jan Dhan scheme launch so that we have maximum awareness in minimum time," Department of Financial...

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Will turn Telangana into ‘golden state’, vows KCR

HYDERABAD: Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday vowed to turn the newly-created Telangana into a 'golden state' by implementing more welfare and development schemes in the next four years.Addressing the plenary of Telangana Rashtra Samiti here, he said the welfare of all weaker sections, who constitute an overwhelming majority of the state, was the objective of his government.Rao reiterated that TRS will not seek votes in the...

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Rs 3,350 Cr for Pensions under Aasara, Says Telangana State CM

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao assured the State Assembly that all eligible people would be given pension under Aasara Pension Scheme.“The government will spend Rs  3,350 crore every year on payment of pensions under the new scheme. This is 380 per cent increase over the previous years. In the past Rs 881.23 crore a year was spent by the erstwhile government”, the Chief Minister said.In a statement in the Assembly, Chief Minister said in all the 10 districts, nearly 39,63,000 applications have been received for sanction of...

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EPF-95 beneficiaries' pension faces cut

Pension received by the beneficiaries of the Employees Provident Scheme, 1995, has gone back from Rs 1,000 per month to Rs 50-Rs 800 from the commencement of the new financial year. This is due to the fact that the central government had decided to give the raised amount as pension only for 2014-15. The Centre has, however, directed the provident fund department not to process the pension of the beneficiaries till further orders are released."The provident fund office has been asked to withhold the calculation of pension to the beneficiaries till...

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Dabur, RUDSETI launches Swavalamban to train village youth

NEW DELHI: Consumer products maker Dabur India, in association with Rural Development and Self-Employment Training Institute (RUDSETI), has announced the launch of an initiative aimed at improving the employability of youth from villages by providing free technical training and skill development.The programme, Swavalamban, is aimed at providing not only training to rural youth in three key areas of sales, merchandising and promotion but also guaranteed...

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A new pension scheme only for labourers

The Central Government has restructured its Swavalamban pension scheme for labourers in the unorganised sector. Auto and taxi drivers, construction workers, domestic helps etc can benefit from the scheme.The new pension scheme, called Atal Pension Yojana, would be different from the existing Swavalamban pension and would come into effect from June 1. While the former pension scheme never gave an idea on how much one would receive as pension or...

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Under Atal Pension Yojana, govt to guarantee up to Rs 5,000 cover

The government will give guaranteed pension of up to Rs 5,000 a month to subscribers under the proposed Atal Pension Yojana and will also allow members of the NPS Swavalamban to migrate to the new scheme.“There will be five guaranteed pensions and subscribers can opt to join any of these schemes. At the age of 60, when the plan matures, a person opting for the scheme will get a guaranteed return,” said Hemant Contractor, chairman of the Pension...

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PFRDA chief eyes 20% coverage of the poor by FY18

Pension fund regulator PFRDA today said it aims at increasing pension coverage for the deprived section to 15-20 per cent over the next few years.“Today pension coverage in the unorganised sector is a poor 3-4 per cent and we want to take it to 15-20 per cent in the next two-three years,” Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman Hemant Contractor told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.He said the Swavalamban...

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Govt employees may get to choose their fund managers in NPS

 New Delhi, April 13:  Pension regulator PFRDA may allow Union and State government employees the flexibility to choose their own fund managers for managing their corpus in the National Pension System (NPS).Such a move will bring the employees on par with private individual subscribers, who already enjoy the facility to choose their fund managers.“The plan to provide choice to government employees for deciding their fund managers is...

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The National Pension System needs a big push

The National Pension System (NPS) is not used to getting an easy pass. When the 2015-16 Budget announced an exclusive tax sop of Rs.50,000 for NPS, even the pension regulator was surprised. The birthing of a national pension system for all of working India—and not just those lucky enough to be incumbents in jobs that offer them the questionable shelter of an inefficient and opaque corpus targeting vehicle called the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF)—has...

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National Pension System funds deliver market beating returns

 BL Research Bureau:  If you’ve parked your retirement savings in the National Pension System (NPS), your future appears to be in safe hands. All the five fund managers of the NPS have delivered above-average, market-beating returns across asset classes and timelines.The NPS funds are invested in the three broad categories of equity (mainly Nifty stocks), corporate debt and government securities. In the equity portion, all the funds...

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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...

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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...

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