The Union Cabinet approved the continuation of Atal Pension Yojana (APY) till FY 2030-31 on January 20, 2026, ensuring that India's flagship pension scheme for the unorganised sector remains available for at least five more years. The scheme, which had reached 8.96 crore enrolments as on 31 March 2026, had been operating on annual budget extensions and needed a formal long-term approval to provide stability and enable states to plan outreach campaigns.
Atal Pension Yojana was launched in May 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, replacing the earlier Swavalamban scheme. It targets workers in the unorganised sector — domestic workers, construction labourers, street vendors, agricultural labourers, and small farmers — who lack access to formal pension systems. Subscribers aged 18–40 can enrol, and the government co-contributes 50% of the annual premium (or ₹1,000, whichever is lower) for five years for subscribers who are not income-tax payers and not covered by any statutory social security scheme.
Upon reaching age 60, subscribers receive a guaranteed pension of ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 per month, depending on their contribution level. In the event of the subscriber's death, the spouse receives the same pension, and upon the spouse's death, the entire accumulated corpus is returned to the nominee.
With 8.66 crore subscribers as of January 2026, APY is the world's largest government-backed pension scheme for the informal sector. The extension to 2030-31 signals the government's commitment to expanding social security coverage and aligns with the broader goal of the Labour Codes to provide old-age income security to India's vast unorganised workforce. For Rajasthan, which has a significant population of agricultural labourers, construction workers, and domestic workers, APY is a critical social safety net.