Now you can open Atal Pension Yojana Account without accessing net banking facility; Find details

Atal Pension Yojana: Do you have a bank account but have not been able to open an Atal Pension Yojana (APY) account yet just because you are not using a net banking facility then there is good news for you as the process of opening of APY accounts will be made easier soon. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has permitted the APY-POPs to introduce an alternate channel for online onboarding of their existing savings account holders. Under the brand new channel, one can open an APY account without utilizing the net banking or cellular app.

This facility is being allowed in order to ease the on-boarding process for APY subscribers.

Currently, some banks are offering online APY account opening via a mobile app or net banking. But the process was creating problems to a large number of bank account holders, who are eligible to be enrolled under the APY but they do not use a mobile app or net banking facilities. This was something that was restricting them to open an APY account through online or digital mode.

To tackle the problem and provide a solution to such account holders, the PFRDA has introduced a mechanism for online paperless onboarding of APY subscribers using the web portal of the banks. Under the process, the bank account holders will have to visit the bank's portal providing the APY on-boarding facility and initiate the registration process. In the mechanism, the account holder will have to provide either the customer ID of the bank or saving bank account number or PAN or Aadhaar. An OTP-based authentication will be done before the registration process is completed.

Once the registration is completed, the account holder will get access to the web-form in which some data will be auto-populated. After this, the subscriber can enter other data related to it like the pension amount, auto-debit frequency, nomination among others. However, the consent for standing instructions and APY enrollment form submission to the bank has to be done digitally through OTP authentication or using e-sign. In the case, where one is not able to provide OTP or e-sign, the subscriber can wet sign the form subsequently and submit the same to his bank-branch.

The move will definitely help those bank account holders who want to be a beneficiary of the APY facility of the government but do not use net banking facility yet but are willing to invest in APY to meet their retirement needs.