The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has issued a master circular detailing the online registration of Atal Pension Yojana through onboarding and fetching Aadhaar details. The circular combines three previous notices in 2001, 2022, and 2023 regarding Aadhaar e-KYC and onboarding through the Central Record Keeping Agency and mobile App.

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The master circular is effective from the date of its issuance on January 31, 2024.

What Does The PFRDA Master Circular Say?

Online registration of Atal Pension Yojana can be done through its portal or mobile app by prospective APY subscribers as the facility to register online is provided by Protean e-Governance Technologies CRA (PCRA). The eligible applicants can open an account using offline XML-based Aadhaar KYC, online Aadhaar-based e-KYC, or Virtual ID. The facility aims to provide easy access to the scheme with no additional charges.

• The data collected through the e-KYC framework is shared with banks to facilitate auto-debit from subscribers’ accounts for the chosen pension amount. APY provides a fixed guaranteed pension from a minimum of Rs 1,000 to a maximum of Rs 5,000.
• Other APY-related services are handled by the respective Points-of-Presence (PoP) points, which are tasked to verify the applicant’s details and complete the registration process. Once done, a subscriber will get a Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) in real-time. The subscriber’s PRAN and registration details will then be shared with the PoP-APY for collecting the first payment and setting up a standing instruction.
   
• The subscribers must ensure their names, date of birth, and Aadhaar and address information provided to APY matches their bank records. They must guarantee sufficient money in their bank accounts for APY contributions. Upon confirmation, an online APY account will be activated. If rejected, the PoP-APY will inform the subscribers and ask them to resubmit.
• PCRA provides Aadhaar seeding for existing subscribers upon their consent. The PoP-APY will collect the Aadhaar details in the PCRA-prescribed format after they give their consent.
• PoP-APY is required to publish an e-APY link on their website for guidance on Aadhaar seeding and increase registrations.

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What Is Atal Pension Yojana (APY)?

“APY is a retirement planning product for people of low-income households and unorganised sectors. To be eligible, one must be aged 18-40 and a non-income taxpayer with a savings bank account. After the subscriber’s death, the pension goes to the spouse, and after the spouse’s death, the nominee receives the corpus accumulated till the subscriber turns 60.

As of December 27, 2023, APY had 5.97 crore subscribers, up from 5.25 crore as of May 9, 2023, an increase of 72 lakh subscribers. The scheme has generated around 8.88 per cent returns since its inception in 2015.