A workshop for Business Correspondents (BCs) was organised by PFRDA on 19th July 2016 at New Delhi to discuss the implementation of Atal Pension Yojana and increasing Bank Correspondent’s role in bringing more beneficiaries to the APY fold. Around 60 BC representatives, officials from SIDBI, Access Assist, some major banks and Dr. Anand Srivastav, Chairman, Business Correspondents Federation of India (BCFI) were present in the workshop.

Shri Hemant Contractor, Chairman, PFRDA in his keynote address emphasised on the need of creating a pensioned society. He said that only 9-10% 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. This ratio needs to be reversed so that more people are enrolled in pension products. APY caters to low and medium income segment people to provide old age income security and it also fulfils the objective of the government to convert a pension less society to a pensioned society. APY is different from Swavalamban due to the fact that it has a minimum guaranteed pension component. It is ideal for those people who have low savings capacity.

The BC 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 also asserted the fact that PFRDA, in collaboration with SIDBI and DFID under PSIG programme would provide necessary push to APY to make it more visible in the rural / urban areas in the States of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. PFRDA will provide necessary support in capacity building and in supplying publicity materials to help BCs to enrol subscribers under APY.

Dr B S Bhandari, Whole Time Member (Economics) spoke on the importance of the Banking Correspondents in the country and their role in last mile connectivity/access for financial inclusion in the country. He appealed to the banking correspondent’s fraternity to initiate necessary steps to promote and distribute the APY. He also urged the banks to enrol the employees and agents of BCs under APY so that they understand the product and process better and in turn propagate the message to their customers.

Dr Anand Srivatava, Chairman, BCFI expressed that the importance of Business Correspondents has been recognised across various forums. He also talked about the inter-operability of BCs and asserted that this would help in enrolment and collection process under APY. He also emphasised on the fact that if the product is properly positioned and the BCs are educated in the right earnest it would help in the distribution of the product further. He said that BCFI would make all efforts to reach out to the BC community for educating and creating awareness of APY to bring more number of people under APY in the society.

Currently over 30.75 lakh subscribers have joined Atal Pension Yojana.

Atal Pension Yojana rollout expands via banking correspondents, enhancing enrolment and rural outreach with capacity building support. Implementation of Atal Pension Yojana focuses on extending pension coverage for low and medium income segments by leveraging the banking correspondent network to increase enrolments and last mile access. APY features a minimum guaranteed pension suited to low savings beneficiaries. PFRDA and partner organisations committed to capacity building, publicity support, BC education, and enrolment of BC staff and agents to improve distribution, collection and interoperability, with operational measures aimed at accelerating subscriber acquisition through the BC channel.