Swavalamban Yojana-NPS
To encourage the people from the unorganised sector to voluntarily save for their retirement and to lower the cost of operations of the New Pension Scheme (NPS) for such subscribers, the Government will contribute Rs. 1000 per year to each NPS account opened in the year 2010-11. This initiative, “Swavalamban” will be available for persons who join NPS, with a minimum contribution of Rs. 1000 and a maximum contribution of Rs. 12000 per annum during a financial year.
The then Hon’ble Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has launched the Swavalamban Scheme on 26.09.2010 at Jangipur (West Bengal). The scheme will be managed by the interim Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. The Operational Guidelines on Swavalamban are available on the PFRDA’s website at www.pfrda.org.in.
The Swavalamban Scheme was initially announced for three years for the beneficiaries who enroll themselves in 2010-11 has now been extended to five years for the beneficiaries enrolled in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13. The Scheme operates through 50 Aggregators and 48 PoPs. This scheme is open to those citizens of India who are not part of any pension/provident scheme.
In view of the encouraging response to the Scheme, relaxations have been provided in the exit norms of the Scheme, whereby a subscriber under Swavalamban will be allowed exit at 50 years (instead of the existing prescribed age of 60 years) or a minimum tenure of 20 years, whichever is later.
The basic eligibility criteria for joining the Swavalamban Yojana for a subscriber is given below:
- Permanent Retirement Account should be opened
- Minimum contribution should be Rs. 1,000 per annum (Financial year) in Tier I account and maximum contribution should be Rs. 12,000 per annum (Financial year) in both Tier I as well as Tier II account together.
For more information click:Citizens-scheme
