National Pension Scheme, Atal Pension Yojana enrollments cross 1.35 cr in FY23

The total number of subscribers under the National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) schemes have crossed the 1.35 crore mark during the financial year 2022-23. In a statement issued on April 6,  the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) said that the total number of subscribers under the Atal Pension Yojana last fiscal year was 1.19 crore. For National Pension Scheme (all citizens), it was 8.47 lakh. 

The fund regulator said that NPS (corporate) enrolments were around 1.54 lakh, while under the central government and state governments, it was 1.28 lakh and 5.35 lakh, respectively. 

It further said that with the cumulative enrolment of over 10 lakh subscribers, NPS private sector- comprising NPS All Citizen and NPS Corporate- accounted for about 60 per cent. 

Sector	Enrolments during FY 2022-23
Central Govt. (Incl. CAB)	1,28,337
State Govt. (Incl. SAB)	5,34,817
Corporate	1,53,651
Everyone	8,46,587
APY	1,19,31,385
Total (FY23)	1,35,94,777

Government-backed Atal Pension Yojana is a social security scheme, which focuses on all citizens in the unorganized sector. The scheme is overseen by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority and is based on the National Pension Scheme rules. 

The subscribers get a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month from the age of 60 years, depending upon their contribution to the scheme during their working life. 

On the other hand, the National Pension System is also a government-back investment scheme under which the subscribers can choose the preferred allocation to different asset classes during their working life. 

NPS was introduced after the old pension scheme was discontinued in December 2003. It was floated on April 1, 2004. Under the old pension scheme, a government employee is entitled to a monthly pension after retirement. The monthly pension is typically half of the last drawn salary of the person. 

It has two types, Tier 1 and Tier 2, which invest in government bonds, equity markets, and corporate debt. The Tier 1 NPS account is strictly a pension account, while the Tier 2 account is an investment account, which is linked with the Pension Regulatory Authority of India (PRAN). 

New rules from April 1 

The fund regulatory has made it mandatory for all NPS subscribers to upload certain documents as of April 1 to the Central Record-Keeping Agency (CRA) user interface before withdrawing their pension corpus. 

In a circular, PFRDA said that the following documents should be uploaded by the NPS subscribers who want to withdraw their pension corpus.  

1. NPS exit/withdrawal form 
2. Proof of identity and address as specified in the withdrawal form 
3. Bank account proof 
4. Copy of the permanent retirement account number (PRAN)