Atal Pension Yojana (APY), India’s flagship social security scheme for workers in the unorganised sector, has crossed a major milestone by recording more than 9 crore gross enrolments. The scheme also achieved its highest-ever annual enrolment in Financial Year 2025–26, with gross additions crossing 1.35 crore subscribers. APY was launched on 9 May 2015 to build a universal pension safety net for low-income and vulnerable citizens.
What is Atal Pension Yojana
APY is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). It aims to provide old-age income security to workers who usually do not have formal pension coverage. The scheme is open to Indian citizens aged 18 to 40 years, excluding income tax payers.
Key Benefits of the Scheme
- Subscribers receive a guaranteed monthly pension of ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 after the age of 60 years.
- After the subscriber’s death, the same pension continues to the spouse.
- After the death of both subscriber and spouse, the accumulated corpus is returned to the nominee.
Institutional Support and Outreach
APY’s expansion has been supported by banks, including public sector banks, regional rural banks, private banks, small finance banks and cooperative banks. Support has also come from State Level Bankers’ Committees, Union Territory Level Bankers’ Committees, Lead District Managers and the Department of Posts. PFRDA has expanded the scheme through awareness drives, multilingual materials, capacity-building programmes, media campaigns and regular performance reviews.
Exam Relevance
The milestone reflects the growing reach of India’s pension inclusion efforts and the role of financial institutions in social security delivery. It also marks the importance of voluntary retirement savings for informal sector workers and the regulatory role of PFRDA in pension administration.
Last Modified: April 25, 2026