New Delhi, April 22 : The Union government said on Wednesday that the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has achieved a historic milestone by surpassing total gross enrolments of nine crore subscribers.

Gross enrolments during the Financial Year 2025â??26 crossed 1.35 crore subscribers, marking the highest-ever enrolments recorded in a single financial year since the inception of the scheme, according to a Finance Ministry statement.

Launched on May 9, 2015, with the vision of establishing a universal social security system for all Indians, APY is a flagship social security scheme of the Union government, administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

According to the Ministry, APY is designed to provide a 'Sampurna Suraksha Kavach' (Complete Security Shield) by ensuring benefits like a guaranteed monthly pension ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 for subscribers after attaining 60 years of age.

Also, same pension continues to the spouse after the subscriber's demise and the return of the corpus accumulated till the age of 60, to the nominee after the death of both.

The pension scheme is open to all Indian citizens between the age of 18 and 40 years, except those who are or have been income taxpayers.

APY is a voluntary, contributory pension scheme primarily focused on the poor, the underprivileged, and workers in the unorganised sector.

"Over the past decade, the scheme has witnessed remarkable growth, driven by sustained efforts of banks (Public Sector Banks/Regional Rural Banks/Private Banks/Small Finance Banks/Co-operative banks), State Level Bankers' Committee/Union Territory Level Bankers' Committees/Lead District Managers, the Department of Posts and continuous support from the Union government," the official statement said.

According to the Ministry, PFRDA has played a proactive role in expanding the scheme's footprint across all states and districts in the country, through extensive outreach initiatives, capacity-building programmes, multilingual awareness materials, media campaigns, and regular performance reviews.

/IANS