APY (Atal Pension Yojana): Chart, Eligibility, Penalty, Exit

Written by India Customer Care editorial team Facts checked against official sources on 31 Oct 2026 Updated 31 Oct 2026

Independent guide. We are not part of PFRDA, NPS Trust, any CRA or any bank, and we never ask for your PRAN, Aadhaar, bank details or OTP.

APY means Atal Pension Yojana. It is a Government of India pension scheme for savings account holders aged 18 to 40. You pay a fixed amount by auto-debit until 60. Then you get a guaranteed pension of ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 a month for life, your spouse gets the same pension after you, and your nominee gets the corpus.

Full form

Atal Pension Yojana

Administered by

PFRDA, through the NPS architecture

Started

Effective 1 June 2015 (launched 9 May 2015)

Who can join

Indian citizens aged 18 to 40 with a bank or post office savings account; not income-tax payers (from 1 Oct 2022)

Pension choices

₹1,000, ₹2,000, ₹3,000, ₹4,000 or ₹5,000 a month from 60

Contribution

Fixed by your age and pension; monthly, quarterly or half-yearly auto-debit

Late payment

₹1 per ₹100 per month of delay

Helplines

1800 110 069 (PFRDA, new subscribers); 1800 889 1030 (CRA, existing subscribers)

How APY works

You choose a pension amount when you join. Your bank debits a fixed contribution until you turn 60. The government guarantees the pension: if investment returns fall short, it funds the gap; if returns are higher, the extra is passed on to you.

• Triple benefit: your own pension for life, the same pension to your spouse for life, then the corpus to your nominee.
• Pension funds: SBI Pension Fund, LIC Pension Fund and UTI Retirement Solutions manage the money.
• Records: a Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA, Protean) keeps your account under a PRAN.

Who can join

• Age 18 to 40. You can join up to your 40th birthday, so you contribute for at least 20 years.
• Indian citizen with a savings account in a bank or the post office. PFRDA's FAQ says eligible NRIs can join; if you later stop being a citizen, the account is closed.
• Not an income-tax payer. From 1 October 2022, anyone who is or has been an income-tax payer cannot open a new account. If such a person is found later, the account is closed and the money returned, with no penalty.
• Already in? Members who joined on or before 30 September 2022 can continue whatever their tax status. Becoming a taxpayer after joining does not affect you.
• One account per person. Each eligible family member can open their own. NPS members and government employees can also join.

Contribution chart (excerpt)

Your contribution is fixed by your age when you join and the pension you choose. Join early, pay less. Monthly amounts below are copied from PFRDA's official chart.

The full chart (every age from 18 to 40, all five pension amounts, quarterly and half-yearly amounts) is in the annexure of PFRDA's APY FAQs.

Auto-debit, due dates and late payment

• Auto-debit only. Contributions come from your savings account by auto-debit, monthly, quarterly or half-yearly. See NACH for how bank mandates work.
• When: banks run the debit in the first ten days of the month (or of the first month of the quarter or half-year) and keep trying on working days until it succeeds.
• Quarters: April–June, July–September, October–December, January–March. Half-years: April–September and October–March.
• Short of balance? If the money isn't there by the end of that month, it counts as a default and is collected later with overdue interest.
• Overdue interest: ₹1 for every ₹100 of contribution (or part) per month of delay. It goes into your own corpus.
• Stopped paying? The account is never closed for non-payment. Pay the overdue amount with interest to regularise it. Meanwhile, maintenance charges keep being deducted until the balance reaches zero.
• Change frequency (for example monthly to quarterly) once a year, by written request to your branch.

Changing your pension amount

• You can upgrade or downgrade your pension once in a financial year, using the APY Subscriber Modification Form at your branch.
• Upgrade: your contribution is reset for your current age and the new pension.
• Downgrade: the extra you paid is refunded with its returns.
• Fee: ₹50 per change (unless it fixes an error).

How to join

• Offline: the APY Registration Form at the bank branch or post office where you hold your savings account.
• Online: eAPY, where your details are fetched from Aadhaar and you sign with e-sign. Banks may also offer APY in net banking.
• No savings account? Open one first; a Jan Dhan (PMJDY) account works.
• Aadhaar is required online and recommended at the branch; it can be added later.

PRAN and statements

• Your APY account has its own PRAN. It is different from any NPS PRAN you have, because PRANs are allotted scheme-wise.
• Free statement and e-PRAN: on Protean CRA's website (APY e-PRAN / Transaction Statement View), or the "APY and NPS Lite" app, which also shows your last 5 contributions.
• By post: a physical statement once a year at your registered address.
• SMS alerts on your registered mobile for contributions and balance.
• Moving city? Nothing to do: the same savings account keeps paying.

At 60, on death, and leaving early

Charges and tax

• CRA charges: ₹15 to open, a small annual maintenance charge, no per-transaction charge. They are recovered by cancelling units in your account.
• Fund charges are tiny and already reflected in the unit value.
• Tax: PFRDA says the tax benefits available under NPS also apply to APY. Section numbers changed with the Income-tax Act, 2025, so check incometax.gov.in before you file.

Problems and complaints

1. Start with your bank or post office branch (your APY service provider) for debits, changes and claims.
2. Lodge it online on PFRDA Pension Sahayak with your mobile number and OTP; it covers NPS and APY and can show forgotten APY PRANs.
3. Escalate to NPS Trust on the same portal if there's no fix in 30 days or you're unhappy.
4. Appeal to the PFRDA Ombudsman if NPS Trust doesn't reply in 21 days or you're still unhappy; then a revision application to PFRDA's Designated Member.

A bank service failure (for example a wrong debit) can also go to the bank and then the RBI Ombudsman.

History

1. 9 May 2015

   APY is launched, announced in the 2015-16 Budget.

2. 1 Jun 2015

   The scheme takes effect.

3. 22 Mar 2016

   Spouse may continue the account if the subscriber dies before 60.

4. 1 Oct 2022

   Income-tax payers can no longer join (notified 10 Aug 2022).

5. 21 Jan 2026

   Cabinet continues APY up to 2030-31.

6. 21 Apr 2026

   Gross enrolments cross 9 crore; a record 1.35 crore joined in 2025-26.

7. 18 May 2026

   Gross enrolments cross 9.10 crore; assets exceed ₹54,000 crore.

FAQs