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The Atal Pension Yojana (APY), launched in 2015, guarantees a fixed pension ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 after you turn 60. While you have the flexibility to pay your contributions monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly, missing a payment can have consequences. Here’s what happens if you miss a contribution.
If you miss a contribution, you will need to pay overdue interest which is added to your APY account and contributes to your pension corpus. To prevent your pension benefits from being reduced take quick action.
The missed contribution will result in a penalty in addition to overdue-due interest. The penalty charges are:
Up to Rs 100: Re 1
Rs 101 to Rs 500: Rs 2
Rs 501 to Rs 1,000: Rs 5
Above Rs 1,000: Rs 10
These are charged for each month of delay and do not include taxes.
Your APY account will remain open if a contribution is missed but will become inactive. Reactivate it by paying the overdue interest and resuming regular contributions.
To avoid delays and further penalty charges, make sure you have enough money in your bank account for timely payments or consider modifying the frequency of your contributions.