New subscribers to Atal Pension Yojana (APY) can now be onboarded by Central Recordkeeping Agencies (CRAs) through Aadhaar eKYC. This facility will be available to CRAs as an additional option, according to PFRDA.
Till now, enrolment of APY subscribers has been happening through physical, net banking or other digital modes provided by APY service providers. Enrolment through Aadhaar eKYC is expected to increase the reach and simplify the onboarding facility, according to PFRDA.
In an official circular dated 27th October, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) said, “As of now, the enrolment of Subscribers happens through physical, net banking or other digital modes provided by the respective APY-SPs (APY Service
Providers).”
“Now in order to further increase the outreach and simplify the process of Subscription, CRA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) would be providing digital onboarding based through Aadhaar eKYC as an additional option. Aadhaar XML based onboarding has already been made available for the benefit of Subscribers. These processes are paperless,” it added.
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The regulator also said that all APY accounts are to be seeded with Aadhaar number for which the CRA will be providing a functionality for facilitating the Aadhaar seeding of the existing APY subscribers through the proper consent mechanism.
Additionally, APY service providers can also collect the Aadhaar details from their associated subscribers with due consent which would then be shared with CRA for seeding, the regulator said.
The Atal Pension Yojana was introduced by the Government of India with effect from 1st June, 2015, following an announcement in Budget 2015-16 on creating a Universal Social Security system for all Indians, especially the under-privileged and the workers with
limited means.
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The scheme which provides a guaranteed pension of Rs 5000 is being administered by the PFRDA under its administrative and institutional architecture of the NPS.