The number of subscribers under various schemes of the National Pension System (NPS) increased 22.9% to over 62.48 million, while their assets under management (AUM) rose 23.45% to `8.82 trillion, as of March 4.
The growth rates both in the number of subscribers and AUM were almost on the same lines as a year ago, despite the higher base.
Of the total subscribers, there was over 28% growth in the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) subscribers, with the addition of more than 10 million new customers during the annual period ending March 4. The APY guarantees a minimum monthly pension of `1,000-5,000 to the lower-income group subscribers based on their contributions.
Of the total 62.48 million subscribers currently, 2.39 million and 6.07 million are Central and state government employees, respectively. Corporate subscribers stood at 1.66 million. As of March 5, 2022, the total number of NPS subscribers was 50.85 million.
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The number of APY subscribers rose 28.4% to 45.3 million as of March 4, 2023. The government introduced APY on June 1, 2015, to provide social security to workers, mainly in the unorganised sector.
After the Centre rolled out the NPS for its new employees (except the armed forces) and that of Central autonomous bodies from January 1, 2004, almost all states made it mandatory for their employees in 2004-2005. Subsequently, the NPS was extended to all Indian citizens voluntarily from May 2009, and to corporate sector employees in December 2011.