New Delhi, July 25 (IANS) The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has achieved a significant milestone by surpassing 8 crore total gross enrollments with an addition of 39 lakh new subscribers in the current Financial Year (FY 2025-26) alone, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.

This milestone comes as the social security scheme celebrates its 10th anniversary since its launch on May 9, 2015.

Launched with a vision to create a universal social security system for all Indians, APY is a voluntary, contributory pension scheme, focused on the poor, the underprivileged, and workers in the unorganised sector.

Its remarkable success is a result of the dedicated and untiring efforts of all Banks, the Department of Posts (DoP), other stakeholders and the continued support of the Government of India, the ministry said in a press note.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), an administrator for the APY, has actively driven enrolments through outreach programmes, training, multilingual handouts, media campaigns, and regular reviews.

APY is meticulously designed to provide a security Shield by ensuring a guaranteed monthly pension of Rs 1,000 to 5,000 for the subscriber post-60 years of age, and the same pension to the spouse after the subscriber’s demise.

In addition, the return of the accumulated corpus to the nominee after the death of both (Husband and Wife).

The scheme is open to all Indian citizens between the ages of 18-40 years. However, people paying income tax can not be subscribers of the Atal Pension Scheme.

Earlier in April this year, APY’s subscriber base reached to 7.65 crore, and women make up about 48 per cent of all, according to data from the government.

Initially, the scheme was available to all citizens of India between 18 and 40 years of age. From October 2022, individuals paying income tax were exempted from the eligibility.

–IANS

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