‘Only 9% covered under pension in India’

New Delhi, July 20 (IANS) Pension fund regulator Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has said that only nine per cent of the total population of the country is covered under pension benefits while a majority of the unorganised sector remains devoid of such benefits.

"Only 9-10 per cent of the people in the country are covered under some type of pension benefits. The vast majority of the population in the unorganised sector are not covered by any type of pension," PFRDA Chairman Hemant Contractor said at the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) workshop here on Tuesday.

Emphasising on the need for creating a pensioned society, Contractor said that the low ratio of population covered by pension benefits needs to be reversed so that more people are enrolled in pension products.

"The business correspondents model in the banking sector has been very successful in opening large number of accounts under Jan Dhan Yojana by reaching out to 5 lakh villages in India, and banks should build on this large base of customers for distribution of APY to eligible subscribers," he said.

He also asserted that PFRDA would provide the necessary push to APY to make it more visible in the rural and urban areas in Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

APY has a minimum guaranteed pension component and is ideal for people who have low savings capacity, Contractor added.

Currently over 30.75 lakh subscribers have joined Atal Pension Yojana.