As per the Ministry of Finance notification, those who pay income tax will not be allowed to enrol in the Government’s Social Security Scheme Atal Pension Yojana (APY) from October 1, 2022.
- This decision has been taken to ensure better targeting of pension benefits to underserved sections of the population.
- This notification will not apply to subscribers who have joined or join the scheme before October 1, 2022.
Key Points:
i.In case a subscriber, who joined on or after October 1, 2022, is found to have been an income tax payer on or before the date of application, the APY account will be closed and the accumulated pension wealth till date would be given to the subscriber.
ii.It should be noted that, people having taxable income of up to Rs 2.5 lakh are not required to pay income tax.
About Atal Pension Yojana (APY):
In June 2015, the government introduced APY to provide social security to workers mainly in the unorganized sector. Subscribers of the scheme get a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1,000-5,000 per month after attaining 60 years of age.
ii.Currently, all Indian citizens between the age group of 18-40 years can join APY through bank or post office branches where one has the savings bank account.
- Now, this is subject to the condition that the subscriber was not a beneficiary of any social security scheme and also not an income tax payer.
iii.The government had co-contributed 50% of the total contribution or Rs 1,000 per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber, who joined the scheme during the period from June 2015 to March 2016.
- These APY subscribers received the government’s co-contribution for a five-year period from 2015-16 to 2019-20.
iv.More than 99 lakh APY accounts were opened during the last fiscal, taking the total number of subscribers to 4.01 crore at the end of March 2022.
Recent Related News:
i.Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced the completion of strategic disinvestmenttransaction for Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) with the transfer of 93.71% shares of the joint venture partners to the strategic buyer Tata Steel Long products Limited (TSLP), a subsidiary of Tata Steel Limited(Tata Steel).
ii.As a part of the ‘AzadiKaAmrit Mahotsav (AKAM)’, an Iconic Week Celebrations of the Ministry of Finance (FinMin) and Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) were held from June 6-12, 2022, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, Delhi. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister (PM) of India Narendra Modi.
About Ministry of Finance:
Union Minister– Nirmala Sitharaman (Constituency – RajyaSabha, Karnataka)
Ministers of State– Pankaj Chaudhary (Constituency – Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh); Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad (Constituency – Rajya sabha Maharashtra)
