Pension schemes added 97 lakh subscribers in 2023: PFRDA head

Pension schemes under the National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) added 97 lakh new subscribers in 2023, taking the total subscriber base to 7.03 crore as of December 31, 2023, according to Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman Deepak Mohanty.

The number of subscribers were up 16 per cent on year. Of the total subscribers, 5.3 crore subscribers invested in the Atal Pension Yojana, which had an AUM of Rs. 33,034 crore as of December 31.

“The subscriber number largely comes from the small ticket APY scheme. For NPS, the number is 1.41 crore, of PFRDA Chairman Deepak Mohantywhich 90 lakh subscribers are Centre and state government employees and slightly over 51 lakh are from the corporate sector,” Mohanty said.

However, there has been a dip in online subscriptions, because of which PFRDA is working on reducing the investment journey and turnaround time through technological intervention. The regulator has also reached out to public sector enterprises and regional rural banks to push pension penetration and is trying to broad base the subscriber base by encouraging more small businesses and women investors, he added.

PFRDA had set a target of enrolling 13 lakh corporate and individual subscribers under NPS in FY24, of which it has enrolled over 5.3 lakh subscribers so far.