ATAL PENSION YOJANA.

• Atal Pension Yojana (or APY)

It was previously known as Swalambam Yojana is an Indian government-sponsored pension scheme. It majorly targeted the unorganized sector of the nation. This scheme was mentioned in the yearly budget in 2015 by the then finance minister of India Arun Jaitley and was the launched by the prime minister of the nation Narendra Modi on 9th of May in the Indian city of Kolkata. During the May 2015, only 20% of the Indian population had any kind of pension scheme and the Atal Pension Yojana was thus formed to increase the number for the same. 

• ABOUT THE SCHEME. 

In order to motivate people to enroll in this scheme and widen its reach, the government announced that it would further contribute 50% of the total contribution which was about 1,000 rupees per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber account for over a period of at least five years or so. 

Only the members of the scheme who have enrolled during June 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016, and were not beneficiaries of any special social security scheme, besides not having any taxable income were eligible for this co-contribution. The minimum eligible age for a person to join the Atal Pension Yojana is 18 years of age, wherein the maximum age was about 40 years of age. The enrolled person will automatically start receiving the pension at the age of 60 years, thus it is considered a minimum period of contribution by the subscriber should be 20 years or more. 

The important know your customer (KYC) document includes the adhaar ID for identification of beneficiaries, spouse and nominee to avoid entitlement issues in the long term