Atal Pension Yojana (APY)
Who can join the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), how to join at a bank or post office, what you pay, the pension from 60, leaving early, what to do when a member dies, and where to complain.
For whom: Indian citizens aged 18 to 40 with a bank or post office savings account (especially workers in the unorganised sector); people already in APY, and their spouses and nominees.
Tell us your situation first; then the documents and steps open.
1Your situation
A few questions. We show only the documents and steps your answers need.
- Which of these is the person applying?
- What do you want to do?
- How old is the person joining?
- Are you, or have you ever been, liable to pay income tax (an income-tax payer)?
Your answers stay on this phone.
Each step below says who it is for. Confirm yours at the office, then change your answer here.
This route does not apply to your situation
The Atal Pension Yojana is only for citizens of India (APY notification of 16 October 2015, para 2). Under the Ministry of Home Affairs notification S.O. 1050(E) of 4 March 2021, OCI cardholders are foreign nationals, not Indian citizens. So OCI cardholders and foreign nationals cannot join APY.
→ There is no other way into APY for OCI cardholders and foreign nationals. For questions, call PFRDA's toll-free number, 1800-110-069.
This route does not apply to your situation
APY is only for Indian citizens. If a member stops being an Indian citizen, the APY account is closed: their own contributions are returned with the net earnings (after charges); any Government co-contribution and its earnings are not. Ask at the bank branch linked to the APY account.
This route does not apply to your situation
You must be at least 18 to join APY; minors cannot open an account.
→ Once you are 18, and until you turn 40, you can join at the bank branch or post office where you have a savings account.
This route does not apply to your situation
You can join APY only up to your 40th birthday; from the next day you cannot.
→ After 40 there is no way to join APY. The state government's old-age pension has its own rules; for it, see this guide:
This route does not apply to your situation
From 1 October 2022, anyone who is or has been liable to pay income tax cannot join APY (notification of 10 August 2022). If, after joining, someone is found to have been a taxpayer on or before applying, the account is closed and the amount built up is returned.
→ If your spouse is not an income-tax payer and meets the other conditions, they can join in their own name.
2Documents you need
Tick the ones you have. They are kept in this browser.
Nothing to get ready before these steps.
3Your steps
· Do them in order. Tick each one when it is done.
- Do this nowIf: Join APY
You need a savings account at a bank or post office.
One person may have only one APY account. Each family member aged 18 to 40 can join separately in their own name.
Sources: 1, 5, 4
- Do this nowIf: Indian citizen living abroad (NRI)If: Join APY
Indian citizens living abroad (NRIs) can also join if they meet the conditions.
If your country of residence for tax is not India, also give the FATCA/CRS declaration form with the joining form.
Not confirmed: The PFRDA FAQ does not say which kind of account (such as NRO) NRIs may pay from. Ask your bank.
Sources: 5, 6
- Do this nowIf: Join APY
Choose the monthly pension you want after 60: ₹1,000, ₹2,000, ₹3,000, ₹4,000 or ₹5,000.
Also choose how often you pay: every month, every three months, or every six months. You pay until you turn 60. In January 2026 the Union Cabinet approved continuing the scheme until 2030-31.
Sources: 1, 4, 5, 13
- Do this nowIf: Join APY
What you pay is set in the scheme's table by your age when you join and the pension you choose.
Monthly examples: joining at 18, ₹42 (for ₹1,000 pension) to ₹210 (for ₹5,000); at 30, ₹116 to ₹577; at 40, ₹291 to ₹1,454. The bank writes your amount on the form.
Sources: 1, 5, 6
- Do this nowIf: Join APY
Go to the bank branch or post office where your savings account is and fill in the APY form: Aadhaar, mobile number, your spouse's name if married (the spouse is the nominee), otherwise a nominee, and whether you pay income tax.
Authorise the auto-debit from your account until 60, sign (or give your thumb impression) and hand it in.
Sources: 6, 4, 5, 3, 7
- Do this nowIf: Join APY
Or without going to the bank: join online through the "eAPY" link on the APY page of the PFRDA website.
Some banks also enrol you through net banking or their mobile app; ask your bank.
Open the official pageNot confirmed: We did not go through the eAPY screens; the eAPY link on PFRDA's page goes to another, non-https address, so we do not link it directly here.
Sources: 4, 5, 14
- Do this nowIf: Join APY
After handing in the form, take the acknowledgement.
It shows your PRAN number, the pension amount and the contribution. Account details and credits come to your mobile by SMS.
Sources: 6, 5
- Do this nowIf: Join APY
If you pay monthly, the money is debited on some day each month.
If you pay every three or six months, you pay for that whole period when you join; the next instalment is debited in the first month of the next quarter (April, July, October, January) or half-year (April, October).
Sources: 5
- Do this nowIf: Join APY / Already a member: change the pension or how often I pay, or pay missed amounts
Keep enough money in the account on the due date.
If it is short, the amount is taken the next month with overdue interest: ₹1 for every ₹100 for each month late. The account is not closed for missed payments, but maintenance charges keep being deducted until the balance runs out.
Sources: 5, 6
- Do this nowIf: Already a member: change the pension or how often I pay, or pay missed amounts
To raise or lower your pension amount, ask at the bank once in a financial year.
The fee is ₹50. If you raise it, the new instalment is worked out on your current age; if you lower it, the extra you paid is returned with its earnings.
Sources: 5
- Do this nowIf: Already a member: change the pension or how often I pay, or pay missed amounts
You can change between paying monthly, every three months or every six months once a year.
Ask at the bank.
Sources: 5
- Do this nowIf: Already a member: change the pension or how often I pay, or pay missed amounts
If you missed instalments, you can put the account right at any time by paying what is due with the overdue interest.
If there is money in the account, more than one missed instalment can be taken at once.
Sources: 5
- Do this nowIf: Already a member: change the pension or how often I pay, or pay missed amounts
You can see your account by SMS and in the CRA's mobile app; a paper statement comes to your address once a year.
You can download the e-PRAN and transaction statement on the CRA website.
Open the official pageSources: 5, 12
- Do this nowIf: Already a member: change the pension or how often I pay, or pay missed amounts
If you were not an income-tax payer on the day you joined but became one later, your account is not affected.
People who joined by 30 September 2022 can continue even if they pay income tax. If you move town, instalments continue from the same account.
Sources: 5, 3
- Do this nowIf: Reached 60: start the pension
After you turn 60, apply at the bank branch or post office linked to your APY account for the monthly pension.
It is paid for life.
Not confirmed: The documents we read do not name a form for starting the pension at 60. Ask the bank.
Sources: 5, 1
- Do this nowIf: Reached 60: start the pension
After the member dies, the spouse gets the same pension for life.
After both have died, the nominee gets the amount built up by the time the member turned 60.
Sources: 1, 5
- Do this nowIf: A member has died
If the member died after 60 (while getting the pension): the spouse gets the same pension for life.
After the spouse also dies, the nominee gets the amount built up by age 60. Tell the bank branch.
Not confirmed: The documents we read do not say which form the spouse uses for the pension after a death past 60. Ask the bank.
Sources: 1, 5
- Do this nowIf: A member has died
If the member died before 60, the spouse can choose one of two: (1) keep the account going in the spouse's name, paying the same amount until the date the member would have turned 60, and then get the same pension for life; or (2) take the amount built up so far.
If the member was unmarried, the nominee gets that amount.
Sources: 2, 5, 10
- Do this nowIf: A member has died
If the member died before 60: at the bank branch, fill in the death-case form and mark whether to close or continue the account.
Give the copy of the death certificate attested by the bank, your KYC and proof of your bank account. Take the bank's acknowledgement.
Sources: 10, 8
- Do this nowIf: A member has died
If the account is continued, a new PRAN is made in the spouse's name and the balance is moved into it.
Instalments are debited from the spouse's own savings account. This is in addition to any APY account the spouse already has.
Sources: 5
- Do this nowIf: Leave the scheme before 60
At the bank branch, fill in the "APY Account Closure Form (Voluntary Exit)": PRAN, the savings account for the money, and the reason.
Take the bank's acknowledgement.
Sources: 9, 8, 5
- Do this nowIf: Leave the scheme before 60
If you leave before 60, you get back only what you paid in, with its earnings, less charges.
Those who joined by 31 March 2016 and got the Government co-contribution do not get that share or its earnings. There is no guaranteed pension.
Sources: 5, 9, 1, 14
If something goes wrong
If it is rejected
If the bank or post office will not enrol you, or will not take your request (pension, closure, death case), log in to PFRDA's "Pension Sahayak" portal with your mobile number or PRAN and lodge a grievance. It goes to the body concerned, and the reply comes to you by email. For questions about joining, PFRDA's toll-free number is 1800-110-069.
If it is late
If a grievance on Pension Sahayak is not resolved within 30 days, or you are not satisfied, use "escalate" under "Track Grievance" on the same portal to send it to the NPS Trust. If there is no reply there within 21 days, you can appeal to the PFRDA Ombudsman in the set format (phone 011-4071 7900).
Also
If you are already a member: if an instalment was debited wrongly, a credit is missing, or your details need correcting, call the APY toll-free number 1800-889-1030 (CRA), or lodge a grievance on Pension Sahayak.
Also
In Andhra Pradesh, if a bank will not enrol you, you can also call the state's Jan Suraksha toll-free number 1800-425-8525 (Union Bank of India, convenor of the State Level Bankers' Committee, SLBC); the national number is 1800-180-1111.
The 16 official pages and papers this guide is written from
- Notification F. No. 16/1/2015-PR, 16 October 2015: Atal Pension Yojana (Gazette of India Extraordinary, Part I, Section 1), with Annex 1 (contribution table), on the Jan Suraksha website
- Notification F. No. 16/1/2015-PR, 22 March 2016: amendment to the APY notification (spouse may continue the account)
- Department of Posts letters F. No. FS-10/24/2022-FS-DOP of 22 August and 30 September 2022 on the change in APY eligibility, enclosing the Gazette notification F. No. 16/1/2015-PR of 10 August 2022
- PFRDA: Atal Pension Yojana (APY): overview, eligibility and administration, features, join APY
- Frequently Asked Questions – Atal Pension Yojana
- Atal Pension Yojana (APY) Subscriber Registration Form (English), with the FATCA/CRS declaration form
- Jan Suraksha website: Forms for Atal Pension Yojana (application forms, including Telugu and a Department of Post version)
- PFRDA Forms: APY Subscriber Form (registration forms, Account Closure (Voluntary Exit) forms, Account Closure and Continuation (Death) forms)
- Atal Pension Yojana (APY) – Account Closure Form (Voluntary Exit)
- Atal Pension Yojana (APY) account closure form, death case (effective 25.08.2017), Hindi version
- PFRDA: About Grievance (grievance redressal mechanism for NPS and APY)
- NPS CRA: Atal Pension Yojana (APY) scheme details
- Cabinet approves continuation of Atal Pension Yojana (APY) and extension of funding support for promotional and developmental activities and gap funding till 2030-31
- Atal Pension Yojana (APY): Securing Retirement for India's Unorganised Sector (backgrounder)
- Jan Suraksha website: "JAN-SURAKSHA - Toll Free Numbers" by state (SLBC convenor banks)
- Notification S.O. 1050(E), 4 March 2021: rights of an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholder, under section 7B(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955