The Government has made following amendment in the existing Atal Pension Yojana (APY) vide Government Notification F. No. 16//1/2015 PR dated 22nd March, 2016.

Option to the spouse of the subscriber to continue contribution to APY on death of subscriber before the age of 60 years:

“If the subscriber dies before the age of 60 years, his/her spouse would be given an option to continue contributing to APY account of the subscriber, which can be maintained in the spouse’s name, for the renaming vesting period, till the original subscriber would have attained the age of 60 years. The spouse of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the same pension amount as that of the subscriber until the death of the spouse”.

This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

Spousal continuation rights: option to continue contributions to APY and receive the same pension entitlement. Amendment grants the option for the spouse to continue contributing to the deceased subscriber's APY account if death occurs before age 60; the account can be maintained in the spouse's name for the remaining vesting period until the original subscriber would have reached 60, and the spouse shall be entitled to receive the same pension amount as that of the subscriber until the spouse's death.