Pension guarantee that’s winning India: Atal Pension Yojana records 9 crore subscribers

Underscoring its expanding reach, enrolments during the Financial Year 2025–26 have exceeded 1.35 crore subscribers, marking the highest-ever annual addition since the scheme’s launch.

Introduced on May 9, 2015, APY was envisioned as a universal social security framework aimed at extending pension coverage to all Indians, particularly targeting the poor, underprivileged, and workers in the unorganised sector.

According to an official statement, the scheme’s sustained growth over the past decade has been driven by coordinated efforts of banks—including public sector banks, regional rural banks, private banks, small finance banks and cooperative banks—along with State Level Bankers’ Committees (SLBCs), Union Territory Level Bankers’ Committees (UTLBCs), Lead District Managers (LDMs), and the Department of Posts.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority has played a proactive role in expanding APY’s footprint nationwide through extensive outreach initiatives, capacity-building programmes, multilingual awareness campaigns, media engagement, and regular performance reviews.

Designed as a ‘Sampurna Suraksha Kavach’ (complete security shield), APY offers a three-fold benefit structure. Subscribers are entitled to a guaranteed monthly pension ranging from ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 upon attaining the age of 60. In the event of the subscriber’s demise, the same pension is extended to the spouse, and after the death of both, the accumulated corpus is returned to the nominee.

The scheme is open to all Indian citizens aged between 18 and 40 years, excluding those who are or have been income tax payers.