Atal Pension Yojana: Every man works hard all his life to earn money to take care of his family. However, if he does one thing, which is to invest in Atal Pension Yojana, he can ensure a monthly income at a time when he is no longer working. This amount can be as high as Rs 5000 per month. And all you need to do is invest Rs 210, provided you fall in the eligible age bracket!

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Atal Pension Yojana: Get Fixed Amount of Money

According to reports, 90% of the total labour force in India is in the unorganised sector. Considering the vast community of this sector, the government introduced a number of social security schemes and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is one among them. The unique feature of APY scheme is that the monthly contribution and the pension you receive is all pre-set. You can receive a fixed monthly pension in the range of Rs.1,000, Rs.2,000, Rs.3,000, Rs.4,000, or Rs.5,000 starting at the age of 60 years based on the monthly contributions you make.

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Eligibility Criteria for Atal Pension Yojana

In order to subscribe to the scheme, you must be a citizen of India. Your age must be a minimum of 18 years and a maximum of 40 years. Also, the minimum period of contribution is 20 years. 

The subscription for the scheme can be availed at any nationalised bank where you have a bank account linked to your mobile number and Aadhaar to qualify for the scheme. The scheme is limited to those who are not covered by any Statutory Social Security Schemes and is not available for income taxpayers.
Atal Pension Yojana Monthly Contribution

Based on the entry age and the pension amount you would like to receive after attaining the age of 60 years, the monthly contribution you must make is decided. Your bank account must have enough funds for the Atal Pension Yojana contribution amount to be auto-debited. 

Here is a table that shows the variations in the contribution based on the monthly Atal Pension Yojana pension desired.

Atal Pension Yojana: How To Make More Money

Though the monthly contributions are pre-defined, you can make an arrangement to make higher contributions with the intent of receiving more pension. Make sure to leave enough money in the account for the auto-debit facility. In the case of insufficient funds, a penalty will be levied.

Atal Pension Yojana Extra Benefit-Govt Contributes 50 pct
The government co-contributes 50% of the total contribution or Rs.1,000 per annum, whichever is lower. The benefit of co-contribution is available to every eligible account for a period of 5 years for those who subscribed to the scheme between 1 June 2015 and 31 December 2015. Since this is a government-backed scheme, the minimum fixed pension income is guaranteed.

Atal Pension Yojana and Swavalamban Yojana Connection
Since the Swavalamban Yojana scheme failed to attract the unorganised sector workers, it was discontinued. The major drawback of the scheme was that the pension at the age of 60 years was not guaranteed. The subscribers were moved to the Atal Pension Yojana. 

Those subscribers above the age of 40 years, if not interested to continue, were given the option to opt-out of the Atal Pension Yojana scheme.

Exit from the Atal Pension Yojana

There are three probable cases to exit the scheme:

1] On maturity: When the account holder attains the age of 60 years, 100% annuitisation of the pension corpus is provided. Pension will be provided to the account holder on a monthly basis.

2] Death of subscriber: In the case of the subscriber’s death after maturity, the pension will be given to the spouse. If both of them are dead, the pension corpus will be returned to the nominee.

3] Exit before maturity: Though exit from the scheme before attaining the age of 60 years is not allowed, a special provision is included. Such an exit is approved only in the event of the subscriber’s death or terminal illness.

Atal Pension Yojana During Crisis
The investment, by way of monthly contribution, will provide assured returns in the form of monthly pensions. The pension is payable to senior citizens in their post-retirement years when their ability to work and earn is low. In times of crisis, the pension acts as an assured source of monthly income to meet expenses. Therefore, no scope for dependence, whatever the situation is. Also, there is no need to question the security as the scheme is government-backed.

( Authored by Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO at ClearTax)