PFRDA allows investors to invest in Atal Pension Yojana via Aadhaar eKYC

PFRDA has allowed Aadhaar eKYC as an additional option to onboard more customers under its flagship pension scheme Atal Pension Yojana.

New Delhi: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has now allowed Aadhaar eKYC as an additional option to onboard more customers under its flagship pension scheme Atal Pension Yojana. With the latest change, the pension fund regulator is letting subscriber enrollment through physical, net banking and other digital modes.  

"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. These processes are paperless," the PFRDA said in a notification.

After the account opening, customers can receive additional services related to their investment schemes from their respective APY-SP (Atal Pension Yojana-Service Provider).

Moreover, the PFRDA is also seeking to link Aadhaar with all the existing APY accounts. For this, APY-SPs can collect customers’ Aadhaar details after taking their consent to share details with CRA for seeding.

"All APY-SP banks are encouraged to provide an e-APY link in their respective corporate website for the benefit of their customers and facilitate them with ease of onboarding,” PFRDA said in a statement. 

"CRA is advised to engage with all APY-SPs for system-level integration so as to provide the functionality e-KYC based APY on-boarding and consent framework for Aadhaar seeding at the earliest," PFRDA added.

Introduced on June 1, 2015, the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) aims to provide social security to workers employed in the unorganised sector. The ambitious project aims to create a Universal Social Security system for all Indians, especially the underprivileged and workers with limited means. Also Read: THIS 50 paise coin can fetch you Rs 1 lakh; here’s how

As of August 31, 2021, the number of subscribers under APY stood at 304.51 lakh, according to the latest PFRDA data. Also Read: Diwali 2021: Planning to send a gift to your loved ones? Check out THESE tech products