Atal Pension Yojana Leads Social Security Space With Over 66% Subscribers under NPS

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is the dominant player in the social security space as it holds 66 per cent subscriber base under the National Pension System.

As of fiscal 2021, NPS had 4.2 crore registered users or subscribers. The annual report of National Pension System Trust said that APY has over 66 per cent of subscribers, or 2.8 crore permanent retirement account numbers (PRAN).

State Government Scheme (SG) ranks second with 11 per cent share. The central autonomous bodies (CAB) continued to account for the least number of subscribers of NPS with a share of 1 per cent, followed by state autonomous bodies (SAB) with a share of 2 per cent, it said.

"APY also dominates in terms of growth rate of the subscriber base, with a gain of 33 per cent on-year in fiscal 2021, followed by the all-citizen model (32 per cent)," it said.

It noted that Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is the most subscribed plan among non-metro subscribers. This also reflects the demographic pattern in the country, where more unorganised population segments reside in the non-metros, thus accessing the NPS self-initiated plan, the annual report said.

Age-wise analysis of NPS subscribers show 85 per cent in the 18-40-year age bracket in fiscal 2021, a jump of 200 bps from their share in fiscal 2020. Within this young subscriber base, the 18-25-age group represented the largest share at 30 per cent, up 300 bps from a year ago, it added.