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The Atal Pension Yojana (APY), administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, has recorded total gross enrolments of over 9 crore subscribers, reflecting sustained expansion of India’s social security coverage. The scheme added more than 1.35 crore subscribers during the financial year 2025–26, marking its highest annual enrolment since inception. Launched to extend pension benefits to workers in the unorganised sector, APY’s growth has been supported by coordinated efforts across banks, postal networks and government agencies. Enhanced outreach, awareness campaigns and capacity-building initiatives have contributed to its scale-up across states and districts. The scheme offers defined pension benefits and survivor coverage, strengthening its role as a long-term social security instrument.
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) reported in the past week that the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has surpassed 9 crore in total gross enrolments, driven by sustained outreach initiatives and institutional participation across the country. Advertisement
The scheme added over 1.35 crore subscribers during the financial year 2025–26, marking the highest annual enrolment since its launch. This growth reflects increased penetration of formal pension coverage among low-income and unorganised sector workers, who form the primary target group of the scheme.
Launched in the past decade with the objective of creating a universal social security framework, APY is a voluntary, contributory pension scheme designed for Indian citizens between 18 and 40 years of age. It excludes individuals who are or have been income tax payers, thereby focusing on economically vulnerable sections.
According to PFRDA, the expansion of APY has been supported by coordinated efforts from public sector banks, regional rural banks, private sector banks, small finance banks and cooperative banks. In addition, the Department of Posts and state-level banking committees have contributed to increasing enrolment across urban and rural regions.
The authority stated that it has played an active role in scaling the scheme through targeted outreach programmes, multilingual awareness campaigns and regular performance monitoring. Capacity-building initiatives for participating institutions and field-level stakeholders have also been implemented to improve enrolment efficiency and service delivery.
APY offers a defined pension benefit structure, ensuring a guaranteed monthly pension ranging between INR 1,000 and INR 5,000 upon the subscriber attaining 60 years of age. The pension amount is determined based on the contribution level and the age at which the subscriber joins the scheme.
The scheme also provides continuity of benefits to dependents. In the event of the subscriber’s death, the pension is transferred to the spouse, and upon the demise of both, the accumulated corpus is returned to the nominee. This structure is intended to provide financial security to households beyond the earning member’s lifetime.
PFRDA indicated that APY has evolved into a key component of India’s social security architecture, particularly for informal sector workers who typically lack access to formal retirement savings mechanisms. The steady increase in enrolment highlights growing awareness and acceptance of long-term pension planning among this segment.
The authority further noted that continued collaboration between financial institutions, government bodies and outreach mechanisms is expected to support further expansion of the scheme, particularly in under-penetrated regions.
Source - PTI
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