Atal Pension Yojana Subscriber can now upgrade or downgrade pension amount anytime during the year

Atal Pension Yojana Subscriber: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has asked all banks to process upgrade or downgrade of pension amount requests of Atal Pension Yojana (APY) subscribers throughout the year with effect from 1st July 2020. However, any upgrade or downgrade can be done once in a financial year. Earlier this facility was available only during the month of April of every year.

This will enable the APY subscribers to increase or decrease their pension plans as per their changing income levels and capacity to pay APY contributions, which is very important to continue contributions in the scheme till 60 years.

Under the APY scheme, a subscriber has the option to receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs.5000 per month after attaining the age of 60 years. Depending on the pension amount the monthly contribution is calculated.  

How it works

Suppose you have opted for the APY scheme when you were 30 to receive Rs 1,000 monthly pension starting from the age of 60. Now you are 34 years old and want to increase the pension amount to Rs 4,000 per month when you turn 60 as your income has increased. This is possible in the case of APY. Your revised contribution amount is decided based on the pension amount. Similarly, a reduction in pension amount is also allowed in case you feel that you are not able to continue the required monthly contribution. 

With the latest mandate from PFRDA, you can now make a change in pension amount once in a financial year in any month. 

In case of an upgrade or downgrade, you need to intimate your bank by filling up a form and giving authorization to the bank to deduct the additional required contribution from your bank account. In case of a reduction in the pension amount, the differential amount would be refunded to the subscriber through direct credit to his bank account. All the contributions into the APY are made either monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly through the auto-debit facility from the savings bank account of the subscriber.

In APY, the spouse of the subscriber continues to get the same amount of pension after the death of the subscriber. Once the spouse dies, the accumulated pension wealth till the age of 60 years of the subscriber would be returned to the nominee.

Online upgrade or downgrade APY account

For upgrading the APY pension account, one may visit the following link which enables the user to check the differential amount to be given or to be received as per the new pension amount chosen.
(https://npslite-nsdl.com/CRAlite/APYUPDNGradeView.do)

One has to enter the PRAN – Permanent Retirement Account Number and the new pension amount.
The monthly pension amount is the amount that you wish to get from age 60. It can be Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000, Rs 3,000, Rs 4,000, Rs 5,000.

Similarly, For downgrading the APY pension account, one may visit the following link and enter the PRAN- Permanent Retirement Account Number and the new pension amount.
(https://npslite-nsdl.com/CRAlite/APYDNGradeView.do)

Offline upgrade or downgrade APY account

To upgrade or downgrade the pension account offline, one has to fill a form and submit it to the bank where the account is registered. The form can be downloaded from the link
(https://npscra.nsdl.co.in/nsdl/forms/Form_to_Upgrade-Downgrade_Pension_under_APY.pdf)

One will have to mention the revised pension amount in the form. The bank will then enter the revised contribution amount.

Earlier, from 1st of July, 2020 the auto-debit of APY contributions has also started, which was stopped till 30th June, 2020 due to PFRDA’s circular issued on 11th April, 2020 for providing relief to the APY subscribers from out-break of Covid-19. As per current arrangements, if all the pending APY contributions due between April-August, 2020 get auto-debited from Savings account of the subscribers, latest by 30th September 2020, then no penal-interest would be charged to them.

There are a few functionalities available online for facilitating APY subscribers to access their APY accounts and get various forms without visiting their bank branch. These functionalities include downloading Upgrade/ downgrade from, PRAN Card Printing, View/download of APY e-PRAN with complete subscriber’s details, Transaction Statement, APY Subscriber Information Brochure, and Subscriber Details Modification Form.

The Atal Pension Yojana was launched by the Government of India in May 2015 and is being administered by PFRDA. This scheme is open to all Citizens of India for joining who are in the age group of 18-40 years, through the bank-branches or post offices where they have their Savings Bank accounts.