PrintPress Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

22-February-2011 16:42 IST

Swavalamban Pension Scheme

To encourage the workers of unorganized sector to voluntarily save for their retirement and to lower the cost of operations of the New Pension System (NPS) for such subscribers, the Central Government announced a co-contributory pension scheme ‘Swavalamban’ in the Union Budget 2010-11. The Government of India (GOI) will contribute a sum of Rs. 1,000 to each eligible NPS subscriber who contributes a minimum of Rs. 1,000 and maximum Rs. 12,000 per annum under the Swavalamban Scheme. The GoI contribution has been announced for the current year and the next three years i.e. upto the year 2013-14. The Government has targeted to cover around 10 lakh subscribers each during the 4 years of the Scheme, totaling to around 40 lakh subscribers. The Swavalamban Scheme has been launched on 26.09.2010 and workers of unorganized sector from any part of the country can join this Scheme. The Interim Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has been mandated by the Government to implement the Swavalamban Scheme all over the country.

In response to the appeal of the Finance Minister in his Budget Speech 2010-11, the State Governments of Haryana and Karnataka have also announced a co-contributory scheme for some specified occupational groups in the un-organised sectors, wherein a sum of Rs. 1,200 per annum will be contributed by these State Governments to the accounts of eligible subscribers of the respective state, over and above the contribution of the Central Government and the individual subscribers.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in written reply to a question raised in Rajya Sabha today.

DSM/BY/S

Co-contributory pension scheme encourages unorganised workers to save for retirement under NPS with government matching contribution. A central co-contributory pension scheme (Swavalamban) provides a government matching contribution to encourage voluntary retirement savings by workers in the unorganised sector under the National Pension System; eligible subscribers making specified annual contributions receive a government top-up, the scheme is implemented nationwide through a government-mandated regulatory mechanism, sets contribution eligibility parameters, and targets expanded enrolment of informal sector workers.