About 87% of Atal Pension Yojana’s subscribers have opted for the minimum assured sum of ₹1,000 per month, while only a little over 8% have chosen the highest slab of ₹5,000, according to data released by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) on Wednesday.
Of over 90 million gross enrolments in the scheme as of 13 May, 79.4 million chose the ₹1,000 monthly pension slab and about 7 million subscribers selected the ₹5,000 pension option, according to the data.
The gap across in the scheme, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May 2015, remains significant. The ₹2,000 pension category had 2.6 million subscribers, or 3% of the total, while the ₹3,000 and ₹4,000 slabs had 1.2 million and 458,698 subscribers, respectively.
According to M. Nagaraju, secretary in the Department of Financial Services, APY had more than ₹54,000 crore of assets under management, with a record 13.5 million subscribers added during FY26.
Gender-wise, males accounted for 51.43% of the subscribers and females 48.54%. The scheme had 26,192 transgender subscribers.
S. Ramann, chairperson of , underlined the growing importance of retirement preparedness and highlighted the significant rise in enrolments among the 18-25 age group, reflecting increasing awareness among youth regarding long-term financial security. He emphasized the need to strengthen subscriber engagement and pension awareness across the country.
Age-wise data showed the highest participation from younger subscribers. The 21–25-year category accounted for 27.6% of the enrolments, followed by the 26–30-year segment with 24.1% and subscribers aged 31 to 35 at 19.15%.
Persistency rate
“The high concentration of subscribers in the entry-level pension slabs under the reflects the scheme’s massive success in making secure retirement benefits affordable and accessible to low-income households,” said Rahul Singh, associate professor at O. P. Jindal Global University. “As financial literacy, incomes and savings capacity improve over time, a gradual movement towards higher pension categories can also be expected.”
APY is open to all Indian citizens aged 18 to 40, except those who are or have been income-tax payers. The government guarantees subscribers a monthly pension upon reaching age 60. The pension amount is determined by a subscriber’s entry age and monthly contributions.
The scheme had a persistency rate of 50.1% as of 31 March, indicating that almost half the subscribers did not regularly maintain their contributions. Among public sector banks, Punjab National Bank recorded the highest persistency rate at 57%, followed by Bank of Baroda and UCO Bank at 56% each.
Among private sector lenders, Karur Vysya Bank topped the list with 76% persistency, followed by South Indian Bank at 75% and Federal Bank at 73%.