Swavalamban Scheme

Objectives:

1. To encourage the people from the unorganized sector to voluntarily save for their retirement.
2. To lower the cost of operations of the New Pension Scheme (NPS) for such subscribers.

Key Points:

1. Government contributes Rs. 1000 per year to each NPS account opened.
2. Govt does a minimum contribution of Rs. 1000 and a maximum contribution of Rs. 12000 per annum.
3. The then Hon’ble Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has launched the Swavalamban Scheme on 26.09.2010 at Jangipur (West Bengal).
4. Managed by the interim Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.
5. The Operational Guidelines on Swavalamban are available on the PFRDA’s website at http://pfrda.org.in. 
6. Swavalamban Scheme was initially announced for three years.
7. Has now been extended to five years.
8. This scheme is open to those citizens of India who are not part of any pension/provident scheme. 
9. Relaxations have been provided in the exit norms of the Scheme to encourage more participations
10. Subscriber under Swavalamban will be allowed exit at 50 years (instead of the existing prescribed age of 60 years) or a minimum tenure of 20 years, whichever is later.
11. A budget provision of Rs.110 crore in RE 2011-12 and Rs. 220 crores in RE 2012-13 has been made for the scheme.