The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has released the data for the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) for April 2022.
According to a press release, the number of subscribers in various schemes under the NPS rose to 523.87 lakh by April-end 2022, up from 426.75 lakh in April 2021, a year- on- year increase of 22.76 per cent.
The number of central government subscribers increased from 21.80 lakh in April 2021 to 22.90 lakh in April 2022, an increase of 5.03 per cent on a yearly basis. The number of state government subscribers saw an increase of 7.66 per cent on a y-o-y basis, up from 52.10 lakh in April 2021 to 56.09 lakh in April 2022.
The Atal Pension Yojana saw a huge increase in subscriber base by 29.71 per cent on a yearly basis from 281.71 lakh in April 2021 to 365.39 lakh in April 2022.
The total assets under management (AUM) as of 30 April 2022 stood at Rs. 7,38,765 crore, up from Rs. 5,89,854 crore, an increase of 25.25 per cent on a yearly basis.
The NPS is a retirement scheme designed and regulated by the PFRDA that allows investors in the scheme to help build a retirement corpus. Since its launch on 1 January 2004, it has emerged as a preferred investment option for employers, employees, and the self-employed alike.
Investments of up to Rs 1.5 lakh are eligible for tax deductions under Section 80C. An additional deduction of Rs 50,000 is available for NPS contribution over and above the Section 80C limit of Rs 1.5 lakh. The rate of return on NPS varies between 12 and 14 per cent annually.
The APY is a guaranteed pension scheme of the Government of India administered by the PFRDA. The scheme allows any citizen of India in the age group of 18 to 40 years to join through the bank or post office branches where one has a savings bank account. Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1,000-5,000 per month from the age of 60 years, depending upon his contribution. The same pension would be paid to the spouse after the demise of the subscriber, and on demise of both the subscriber and the spouse, the pension wealth accumulated till age 60 of the subscriber would be returned to the nominee.
