Finance

Atal Pension Yojana: A Silver Lining for the Unorganized Sector

Hi guys,

Two things have happened this month.

I have switched jobs
I have turned 25 years old

Both these things have got me thinking about planning for the future and I have started some basic research on investment plans, SIPs and pension schemes. After sifting through the myriad policies, fine print and investment options, I came across something. The GOI has something for us millennials. You see, most of us work in the private sector and very few organizations tend to provide a pension scheme unless you are a long term employee with them. We millenials, tend to change jobs at the drop of a hat and therefore, by the time we turn 60, it is quite possible that we might be pension less.

That is why; today, I want to talk to you about the Atal Pension Yojana

The ambitious and evidently successful scheme of Government of India – Financial Inclusion has brought our whole country in its ambit. The scheme has effectively reached and benefited a large magnitude of the underprivileged Indian population and continues to do so. The scheme aims at providing universal access to financial services across all households, thereby providing the benefits of the modern financial system, coupled with social security schemes. Three social security schemes have been launched simultaneously, to primarily benefit people from the unorganized sector – Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana , Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana. While the first two schemes provide life insurance and accidental insurance covers; the third scheme is aimed at providing income security in old age, through a fixed monthly pension. Through these social security schemes, the Government of India plans to provide Jan Dhan Se Jan Suraksha.

“As our young population ages, it is also going to be pension-less. Encouraged by the success of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, I propose to work towards creating a universal social security system for all Indians that will ensure that no Indian citizen will have to worry about illness, accidents or penury in old age”

-Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his 2015-16 Union Budget speech

Atal Pension Yojana

The Government of India announced a new scheme in Union Budget 2015-16, that was designed to provide old age income security to the working poor, mostly in the unorganized sector; to encourage and enable them to save for their retirement. The scheme is administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) through NPS architecture.

Benefits of Atal Pension Yojana

Triple Benefits:-

(i) Each subscriber under APY shall receive a Central Government guaranteed minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month or Rs. 2000 per month or Rs. 3000 per month or Rs. 4000 per month or Rs. 5000 per month, after the age of 60 years until death.

(ii) After the death of the subscriber, same pension amount shall be available to the spouse of the subscriber.

(iii) After the death of both i.e. subscriber and spouse, the pension corpus, as accumulated till age 60 years of the subscriber, would be returned to the nominee of the subscriber.

Government of India will also co-contribute 50% of the subscriber’s contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower for 5 years, i.e. from the Financial Year 2015-16 to 2019-20 for the subscribers, who join the scheme till 31^st March, 2016 and who are not covered by any Statutory Social Security Scheme and are not income tax payers.

Eligibility

Indian citizens aged between 18-40 years, having an active Savings Bank Account or Post Office Savings Bank Account; is eligible for Atal Pension Yojana.

How to open an APY account

Approach the bank branch/post office where an individual’s savings bank account is held or open a savings account if the subscriber doesn’t have one.
Provide the Bank A/c number/ Post office savings bank account number and with the help of the Bank staff, fill up the APY registration form.
Provide Aadhaar / Mobile Number. This is not mandatory, but may be provided to facilitate the communication regarding contribution.
Ensure keeping the required balance in the savings bank account/ post office savings bank account for the transfer of monthly/quarterly / half-yearly contribution.

Current Scenario

As on 1^st April, 2017, 48.89 lakh subscribers have been enrolled under APY with an accumulated pension wealth of Rs. 1751.31 crores.

More than 50% of the total APY subscribers are rural subscribers. Out of the total subscribers, more than 18 lakh subscribers are female subscribers. About 25 lakh APY subscribers are under the age group of 26-35 years. This constitutes more than half of the total subscribers registered under APY.

With a large number of people subscribing to and benefitting from Atal Pension Yojana, the dream of a better and planned life for every citizen does not seem far-fetched.

Please note: This is a sponsored post.

A new era of banking with the HDFC Bank’s Digital Innovation Summit

We are the app generation. Things that would take people minutes are accomplished by us in seconds and this is all thanks to the revolutionary change in technology. But, when it comes to certain sectors, we are quite traditional. Take banking for example. I have always been too scared to try and complete any transaction on an app because I live in the perpetual fear that I would lose my phone and then with it my sanity.

But what if I were to tell you that some of the country’s finest brains were working hard to bring in a dramatic change in the way we bank. Have I piqued your curiosity a little? Let’s get to know the Digital Innovation Summit by HDFC Bank better.

HDFC Bank Ltd hosted its first Digital Innovation Summit and recently announced 5 startup winners who had come up with some brilliant ideas on artificial intelligence, marketing, quality assurance, and payments (both mobile and biometric) domains. It is definitely not surprising that HDFC Bank has spearheaded this change, after all, they have been famous for ushering in new innovations in the banking sector

Take for example the ‘Go Digital’ campaign in 2014, with the ‘Bank aapki mutthi mein’ offering, and in the recent past, it has launched a host of new and very successful digital banking products.

Taking this a step further, this bank decided to host afirst-of-its-kind event in the BFSI space in the country, the HDFC Bank’s Digital Innovation Summit which received more than 100 entries from companies from all over India. 30 companies were shortlisted to make presentation to a jury panel comprising of senior management from digital banking, branch banking, marketing, IT, e-commerce and cards. These 30 companies were from diverse domains: payments, mobile innovation, analytics, cloud and compliance.

So who were these winners and what were their innovations?

Bugclipper: An android, iOS and Web compatible app that created segmentation to provide personalized messages. It believes in hyper localization and focuses on contest rather than content.

Tapits Technology: These guys aim to introduce a cashless, mobileless and cardless transaction using biometrics.

FingPay: A 3 factor payment method that can complete a transaction in 2 seconds on a 2G network.

Senseforth technology: Text communication with customers through artificial intelligence.

Net Vigil Software: They have QR code-based offline mobile payments!

Aren’t these ideas simply amazing? One thing I know for sure that the entire banking sector is going to get revamped once these ideas are implemented and I was absolutely glad to be a part of the Digital Innovation Summit where I got an opportunity to interact with these brilliant minds. I look forward to these wonderful changes ushering in a new era in banking.

Please note: This is a sponsored post. If you have any questions, please comment and I will be happy to answer them. 🙂

A Rupee saved is a Rupee earned

Being in the field of social work, I get an opportunity to meet unusual people across remote locations in India and each of them have something unique to tell me. Most of these stories are of those people who have had very little in life; no education, no access to the basics that we take for granted (food, clothing and shelter) and sometimes what seems to be a bleak future. Yet when my phone rings on a random day with one little girl from the far off land of Taraunkala calls me to tell her excitedly that instead of getting married at 18, her mother has saved enough for her to go to a nursing school, my heart swells in pride.

I have heard “A rupee saved is a rupee earned” all through my childhood but somehow I never believed in this concept. I preferred to live in the moment and enjoy myself to the fullest rather than penny-pinch. When I started visiting different places as a part of my studies, I had to interact with a lot of Self Help Groups or Bachat Gat as they were locally called. And here the person who did not believe in saving had to preach exactly that.I heard stories that moved me to tears. All had a common theme; they all said the same thing to me. So what if I couldn’t study, my children would never suffer for the want of money. My daughter will not be married off at a young age; she will study and do something with her life.

Why should I go as far as the villages of Maharashtra? Let me tell you the story of the telecaller in my Dad’s company, Sunita. She is a wonderful lady who has big dreams for her two girls who are academically very strong in school. Yet when one of them managed to get a good score in her SSC exams which would enable her to secure admission in a great college, we could see worry lines creasing her forehead.

My housemaid, who comes to our house every day with a big smile had started looking defeated just a few months back. She would smile sometimes but that would not even reach her eyes. She required money, urgently for her mother’s operation.
And me? Well, there has been one instance when I had felt an urgent need for money. I had been invited to go to Malaysia but I could collect enough cash in the week’s time that was given to me for my visa and I had to let go of that opportunity. I remember crying to bed every day for a week.

This is where I feel this beautiful video from Birla Sun Life Insurance would inspire me and these two wonderful ladies with its battle cry of Khud Ko Kar Buland. Planning our future but at the same time not being obsessed about an unforeseen event is something that we need to incorporate in our daily lives. If I had planned better I am sure I would have come back with a camera full of wonderful memories from Malaysia. But am I going to let this incident affect me? Well, yes because I fully intend to start working towards a structured future which would have a safety net should I ever stumble or fall in life.

Please note: This is a sponsored post.

Axis Bank’s Ping Pay

Apps have become irreplaceable, haven’t they? But there are some things that we are too scared to do on our apps. Transferring money for example because we feel that it is not secure. But with Ping Pay, things are going to change. Let’s have a look at some of its features. I attended a blogger’s meet to learn more about this exciting app.

Ping Pay is a unique multi-social payment solution to enable customers, especially the youth and smartphone users, to transfer money and mobile recharge, person-to-person, including to non-Axis Bank account holders, using social and messaging channels like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Email and Phone Contact lists.

The person-to-person fund transfers through Ping Pay would happen via NPCI’s Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and currently, the transaction limit is at INR 50,000 per day. IMPS offers an instant, 24X7, safe and convenient interbank electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones.

Ping Pay is seen as a strategic step by Axis Bank in bringing superior customer convenience, embedded in a seamless and secure process, to one of the most important online financial transactions viz. funds transfer, and in the process fast-pacing India’s progress towards becoming a cashless economy. India is largely a prepaid mobile market – the Ping Pay app also enables sending person-to-person mobile recharges, tapping into a huge opportunity.

Axis Bank account holders can download the Ping Pay app and sign up for the service using their registered mobile numbers and associate their Axis Bank internet banking credentials or ATM/ Debit Card to send money and mobile recharges. Funds and mobile recharge can be sent to any bank account holder.

The app provides an innovative, gesture-based user experience that enables money transfers without having to type in the account number and the IFSC code. Sending or requesting money or mobile recharges with the Ping takes a few simple steps. When sending money, the user chooses a social or messaging channel and selects the name of the person to whom the money is to be sent.

They enter the amount to be sent and set a “ping code” that is shared separately with the receiver. Upon confirming the transaction, the money is immediately sent and the receiver gets a message across the social or messaging channel selected by the sender. The receiver has 15 days to transfer the money to his/her bank account using IMPS. In the event, the receiver does not claim the money received within 15 days, the transaction would be auto-reversed to the sender’s account. Ping Pay also has ‘Ask for Money’ and ‘Ask for Recharge’ options, which would allow the receiver to put in a request for funds and also seek recharge from their friends and family. It is the only banking social payment application which allows users to share digital content like text, images, audio and video while sending/asking for money/mobile recharge.

Hope this post was able to introduce you to a new app and clarify your doubts 🙂

Please note: This is a sponsored post.

Social Banking is here!

I remember the first time I heard the word bank. I was a kid, about five years old and mom had decided to take me to our branch to withdraw some money. I loved the place! For one, it was one of the few places I had been to that had an air conditioner. Second, it would give any amount of money to you. I saw my mom scribble something on a piece of paper and give it to a stern-looking woman who gave her a token. When the number was announced, mom would scribble some more and walk away with whatever amount she wanted. I was amazed.

The next day, I, very proudly, scrawled some random alphabet I remembered from school and gave it to mom asking her to give me 5 rs to buy chocolate and samosa. My mom took the piece of paper and asked, “What have you written here”

“This is my sign,” I said proudly. “Now, you can give me money”

My mom looked a little puzzled and I continued, “Mom, I saw you in the bank yesterday. You gave people a piece of paper and they gave you money in return. I want five rup…”

By this time, mom had started laughing. She took me in my lap and said, “Paisa thodi pedh par ugta hain. Banks just don’t give you money when you ask for it. You have to save first and deposit money into an account. Only then can you withdraw it when you need it.”

She ruffled my hair and decided to give two rupees for chocolate.

Next day, when she returned from the market, she brought a present from me. I squealed in delight and hurriedly tore its wrapper to see what was inside. It was a beautiful pink dog house. Delighted, I asked her how it worked.

She gave fifty paise and told me, “You see that little knob over there? Just keep your coin on top of it and press.”

I did what she asked me to and immediately the dog sprang to life. It jumped out of the house, took the fifty paise and shut its door on me. I was so amused by this game that I spent the entire day removing and putting fifty paise back into my doggy bank.

These are the first few memories that I remember about banking. There was school of course, where I was made to learn the functions of a bank by rote but I never gave it much thought. It was only when I got my first salary that I opened a bank account and started taking an interest in banking. It was a complex and tedious thing to learn, but I had no option.

Let’s fast forward it to today. Nowadays, everything is fast-paced, isn’t it. Everything is social. That is why; Kotak thought, “Why not make banking social, too” And thus Jifi was born!

Now, I am sure you guys are intrigued as to what Jifi really is. Here is some information about it along with my review.

First of all, I am in love with the concept. Connecting banking with social media is just a stroke of genius, especially for impatient youngsters like me. I need everything on the go and I cannot be bothered with complicated processes to get things done. This where Jifi comes in and saves quite a lot of time for me. I don’t have to stand in long queues to submit the form for a fixed deposit nor do I have to keep worrying about keeping a passbook updated.

Let’s have a look at how it works!

Signing up

Signing up on Jifi is very easy. All you need is a Facebook account or an email id to invite yourself to this site. The service is currently invite only but it will soon be open to all.

It took me less than a minute to sign up using my Facebook account and within a few moments I got an email on my Facebook registered id to confirm my account.

How to earn points?

The first thing that I did, once I logged into my account was read the FAQ’s on how to earn points. I realized that there are two types of points that one can earn. Transaction points, awarded when you use Jifi to make a payment somewhere and social points that are awarded when you invite friends, like Jifi’s Facebook page and so on.

So what is the difference between the two?

When you earn social points, you can use it to buy coupons for yourself. However, when you earn transaction points, you can use it to get gift vouchers for a number of amazing companies.

Also, you must read the Terms and Conditions of the vouchers purchased from social points. In order to use, you will have to make a payment from Jifi. Initially, I disliked this concept but then I realized that Jifi had done something clever. If you made a payment using Jifi, you would definitely earn transaction points and in the end, you will definitely benefit.

So, a big thumbs to earning points via Jifi!

What other benefits can you expect?

This colourful picture says it all, doesn’t it?

Balance free banking

All banks require you to maintain a certain amount of money with them. This usually ranges from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 10, 000. It is really a waste isn’t ? This deposit earns a terrible interest rate while the bank uses it to give loans and earn a handsome profit for itself. But Jifi does not like to cheat its customers like that.

When you start an account initially, you are required to deposit Rs. 5000 for some verification. But once that is done, you are free to empty your account entirely and enjoy the benefits of social banking whenever you feel like. Jifi does not want to coerce its customers into doing something they rather not.

Also, if you have kept more than Rs. 25, 000 in your account, then you are in for a treat. Jifi automatically creates a term deposit that ensures that you earn a good interest on your money that is otherwise just lying around in the bank.

What are people saying about Jifi?

How Jifi makes me happy?

Enjoying every moment and doing the things that you love is so easy. Using the points, I can give coupons and gift vouchers, I can make payments any time I want and save time, I can earn a good rate of interest if I have a higher deposit and basically, I can do whatever comes to my mind without bothering about banking hassles!