Atal pension scheme not a hit, admits Union minister

Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha on Friday conceded that the Atal Pension scheme has not gained popularity as small investors find it complicated.

Speaking to reporters on Friday after a review meeting with top bank officials on the performances of Mudra banks and other social security schemes, Sinha agreed that in Karnataka only 21,000 people have enrolled themselves for the scheme.

Sinha said, “It is a little complicated but powerful and effective programme. People have not understood it fully. Most of the people think there is no point in depositing for such a longer period of time. They have not sensed the financial security it is offering,”

The minister lauded Karnataka for performing extremely well in the implementation of Mudra scheme offering small loans to young entrepreneurs. Under this scheme, loans ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh are offered under three different categories of Shishu, Kishore and Tarun. He said the ministry is sorting out problems associated with this scheme.

On Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Sinha said 22 crore accounts were opened and Rs 40,000 crore have been deposited, so far. He added that the number of zero-balance accounts under the scheme have reduced from 67% to 20%. The seeding of Aadhaar with these accounts is underway so that Direct Benefit Transfer can be linked with NREG scheme.