New Delhi: The Centre has amended its ambitious pension scheme Atal Pension Yojana (APY) to give an option to the spouse to continue to contribute for balance period even in the event of the premature death of the subscriber.
After the death of both the subscriber and the spouse, the nominee of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the pension wealth, as accumulated till age of 60 years of the subscriber.
The government had received feedback that present provision under Atal Pension Yojana (APY) of handing-over lump sum amount to spouse on premature death of the subscriber is not preferred by many subscribers. It was also highlighted that there is growing demand to give an option to the spouse to continue contribution after the death of subscriber to enable him / her to draw pension when the deceased subscriber would have turned 60 years of age.
“Therefore, after considering the feedback, the government has decided to give an option to the spouse of the subscriber to continue contributing to APY account of the subscriber, for the remaining vesting period, till the original subscriber would have attained the age of 60 years instead of present provision of handing-over lumpsum amount to spouse on the premature death (death before 60 years of age) of the subscriber,” said finance ministry.
The spouse of the subscriber will be entitled to receive the same pension amount as that of the subscriber until the death of the spouse. After the death of both the subscriber and the spouse, the nominee of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the pension wealth, as accumulated till age of 60 years of the subscriber.
To address the longevity risks among the workers and to encourage voluntarily saving for retirement, last year government launched Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
Under APY, each subscriber, on completion of 60 years of age, will get the guaranteed minimum monthly pension, or higher monthly pension, if the investment returns are higher than the assumed returns for minimum guaranteed pension, over the period of contribution.
