The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a central government-backed guaranteed pension plan for the workers of the unorganised sector launched in FY2015-16. It provides pensions in five slabs: Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000, Rs 3,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000 at retirement or upon reaching the age of 60.

The pension and maturity amounts are determined based on the years invested, returns on investments, subscriber’s contributions, etc. The subscriber must have a bank or a post office savings account and must be between 18 and 40 years of age to be eligible for the scheme.

APY provides modest returns on investments. The schemes aims to provide financial security o the workers of the unorganised sector by ensuring regular contributions to the fund. The beneficiaries include labourers, weavers, domestic helpers, etc. who generally come from the economically disadvantaged section of society.

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How To Calculate APY Maturity Amount

As per the APY calculator provided by the National Pension System (NPS) Trust on its website, suppose you are 25 years old and wish to retire at 60 and expect a monthly pension of Rs 5,000. In that case, you will need to you contribute around Rs 350-400 monthly. Assuming the expected returns on investments are 8 per cent, your accumulated funds will be about Rs 8.6 lakh after 35 years or at retirement on turning 60.

However, if you are 30 years old and wish to receive the same pension amount, you will have to contribute around Rs 500 per month and the accumulated corpus would be around Rs 8.5 lakh. So, the longer you contribute, the larger will be the corpus at retirement.

How To Open An APY Account

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Application Process

• Visit a post office or a bank branch where you have an account, or open start a new savings account if you don’t have already to subscribe to the scheme.
• With the assistance of the bank staff, fill out the Atal Pension Yojana registration form by entering all the details, including the bank or post office savings bank account number.
• Provide your mobile number and Aadhaar card details for communications.
• And then, your APY investment journey starts.
• To deposit your contributions to the account monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or annually; you will get notifications on your mobile phone for the deposits.