Aadhaar must to avail govt co-contribution under Atal Pension Yojna

The finance ministry today said subscribers of the Atal Pension Yojna (APY) will have to link their Aadhaar to their accounts for availing up to Rs 1,000 government's co-contribution.

Any individual who is eligible to receive benefits under the APY will have to furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar number or undergo enrolment under Aadhaar authentication, the ministry said in a statement.

Pension regulator PFRDA has identified nearly 12.35 lakh subscribers who are eligible for government co-contribution for an amount up to Rs 1,000 for the financial year 2016-17 which will be released to the eligible subscribers' savings bank accounts which are seeded with Aadhaar -- the 12 digit unique identification number.

"An APY subscriber will have to get the Aadhaar number recorded in his or her APY pension account and also in his/ her savings account where the periodic pension contribution instalments are debited and government co-contribution is to be credited," the ministry said.

Atal Pension Yojana, government's flagship social security scheme, has more than 54 lakh subscribers with an asset base of more than Rs 2,200 crore.

With an objective of bringing in "transparency, efficiency" and to enable beneficiaries to get their entitlement directly in a convenient and seamless manner, Aadhaar card has been constituted as the primary document in identification of the beneficiary under the Aadhaar Act.