Pension limit to be hiked, even doubled? Here is what Centre is saying

A government-backed pension scheme Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is getting renewed attention of the ruling dispensation. The Centre, to increase its outreach and popularise it among masses, is considering a proposal to raise the pension limit under the plan up to Rs 10,000 per month from the existing Rs 5,000.
 
There is a need to increase the value of pension under APY, Madnesh Kumar Mishra, Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), said at a conference organised by PFRDA. "We have seen the proposal (sent by PFRDA) of increasing the pension value to (up to) Rs 10,000 per month and it is under our active examination," Mishra told PTI on the sidelines of the event.
 
The proposal has been sent to the finance ministry with an aim to increase the subscriber base of APY, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman Hemant G Contractor told PTI, adding "Currently, we have five slabs of pension from Rs 1,000-5000 per month. There have been a lot of feedback from the market asking for higher pension amounts because many people feel that Rs 5,000 at the age of 60 years, 20-30 years from now, will not be sufficient."
 
"We have placed this proposal with the government that it should be increased to up to Rs 10,000," he added. 
 
The PFRDA has reportedly forwarded two more proposals to the ministry - auto enrolment for APY and raising the maximum age bar to enter the scheme to up to 50 years. Currently, the age of entering APY is from 18-40 years, but an increase in the age group by another 10 years will help in expanding the subscriber base, Contractor added. 
 
APY's current subscriber base is 1.02 crore, while PFRDA reportedly aims to add about 50 lakh new subscribers under the scheme in 2017-18 to add another 60-70 lakh in the ongoing financial year.

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Notably, the Atal Pension Yojana was first mentioned in the 2015 Budget speech by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched it in Kolkata on May 9, 2015.