PFRDA favours early disbursal of commission amount for BCs

Pension Fund and Regulatory Authority of India (PFRDA) has suggested that the government should release quickly the commission money for bank correspondents endorsing products under Atal Pension Yojana as it will act as an incentive for them. "The incentive is paid by the government. Only when we get the funds from the government, we can release it further. Currently, the government releases the funds in about 3-4 months. The banks have been requesting that it should be paid every quarter," PFRDA Chairman Hemant G Contractor said on Tuesday. He said PFRDA is even pitching for payment frequency to be as short as one month so that it boosts incentives for the BCs. Atal Pension Yojana (APY), managed by PFRDA is one of the key projects of the government aimed at covering a large society under the pension net. 

The scheme, though meant for all, is especially targetted at the unorganised sector that does not have any formal pension provision. APY encourages workers from the unorganised sector to save voluntarily for their retirement. The most promising advantage of APY is at the retirement age of 60 years -- it offers a minimum guaranteed monthly pension between Rs 1,000-5,000 to the subscriber and to the spouse after the death of the subscriber.