Atal Pension Yojana (APY) - Frequently Asked Questions

Before you put money into any scheme, you should know how it works. These are the questions people ask most often about Atal Pension Yojana (APY).

It is the total built up in your account: your accumulated contributions + any Government of India co-contribution (only early subscribers got it) + the returns earned = corpus amount.

APY contributions are invested as per the investment guidelines PFRDA prescribes for APY. The money is managed by these PFRDA-appointed pension funds:

• SBI Pension Fund
• LIC Pension Fund
• UTI Retirement Solutions

Most of the money goes into government securities and other debt, with only a limited share in equity. Your pension is guaranteed whatever the returns turn out to be.

A pension guaranteed by the government. If the returns on your contributions fall short of what your chosen pension needs, the government makes up the difference. If they do better, the extra goes to you as a higher pension.

There used to be a government top-up as well: 50% of your total contribution or Rs. 1,000/- a year, whichever was lower, for eligible subscribers who joined between 1 June 2015 and 31 March 2016. It was paid for 5 years, from FY 2015-16 to 2019-20, and has ended. New subscribers don't get it.

No. You need a savings account with a bank or the post office to join Atal Pension Yojana (APY).

By auto-debit from your savings account, every month, every quarter or every six months. You choose the frequency, and you can change it once a year, in April.

For monthly payments, any day of the month. For quarterly or half-yearly payments, any day in the first month of the quarter or half-year. The bank debits it when the money is in your account.

If the money still isn't there by the end of that month, it counts as a default. The missed contribution is collected later, with overdue interest of Re 1 a month for every Rs 100 of contribution, or part of Rs 100:

1. Re. 1 a month for a contribution of up to Rs. 100.
2. Rs. 2 a month for a contribution of Rs. 101 to Rs. 200.
3. Rs 6 a month for a contribution of Rs 577 (anything from Rs 501 to Rs 600).
4. Rs 15 a month for a contribution of Rs 1454 (anything from Rs 1401 to Rs 1500).

If you stop paying altogether:

• The account isn't closed just because you stopped paying.
• Account maintenance charges keep being deducted from your balance.
• If those charges bring the balance down to zero, the account is closed.

You can bring the account up to date at any time by paying the overdue contributions with the overdue interest.

The overdue interest you pay stays in your pension corpus.

Yes. Nominee details are mandatory in an Atal Pension Yojana (APY) account. If you're married, your spouse is the default nominee. If you're single, you can name someone else, and you add your spouse's details after you marry.

Only one. Each subscriber can have a single Atal Pension Yojana (APY) account.

Yes. During the years you are contributing, you can move to a higher or lower pension amount from the available options. You can do this once a year.

1. On reaching 60:

   You ask your bank to start the pension. You get the guaranteed monthly pension, or more if the returns have been higher than assumed.

2. If the subscriber dies after 60:

   The same pension goes to the spouse. When both the subscriber and the spouse have died, the pension wealth built up until the subscriber turned 60 is paid to the nominee.

3. If the subscriber dies before 60:

   The spouse can keep the account going in their own name, paying contributions until the date the subscriber would have turned 60, and then gets the same pension. Or the spouse or nominee can take the whole corpus.

4. Exit before 60:

   You can leave voluntarily. You get back your own contributions with the net returns earned on them, after account maintenance charges. If you received the government co-contribution, that part and its returns are not paid to you.

Through SMS. You'll get periodic alerts on your registered mobile number, and a physical statement of account as well.

Yes. Subscribers get a physical statement of their Atal Pension Yojana (APY) account once a year.

You don't need to do anything. The auto-debit keeps going from your bank account even after you move.