Pradhan Mantri Laghu Vyapari Maan-dhan Yojana

Under Pradhan Mantri Laghu Vyapari Maan-dhan Yojana, the applicant shall receive an assured minimum monthly pension of INR 3000 after attaining the 60 years of age through Life Insurance Corporation of India.“Laghu Vyapari ” means who are self-employed and working as shop owners, retail traders, rice mill owners, oil mill owners, workshop owners, commission agents, brokers of real estate, owners of small hotels, restaurants and other Laghu Vyaparis.

The Central Government will establish a Pension Fund to be administered by Life Insurance Corporation of India with the Government. The subscriber shall subscribe to the Pension Fund as determined by the Central Government from time to time at the time of such joining in accordance with the age of the eligible subscriber, as specified in the contribution chart below.

Eligibility Criteria

Following is the eligibility criteria for availing Pradhan Mantri Laghu Vyapari Maan-dhan Yojana.

• This Scheme shall be open only to the Laghu Vyapari for joining, whose annual turnover does not exceed Rs 1.5 crore, based on self-declaration, who has a savings bank account in his name and Aadhar number.

• The Laghu Vyapari shall be not less than eighteen years of age and not exceed ing forty years of age.

• The Laghu Vyapari shall not be eligible to join the Scheme, if he is covered under National Pension Scheme contributed by the Central Government or Employees’ State Insurance Corporation Scheme under the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 or Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme under the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 or he is an income-tax assessee.

How to Apply ?

Under the scheme, CSC-SPV has been chosen as enrolment agency. CSC-SPV through its over 3.50 lakh common service centres across the country will enrol the beneficiary under the scheme. For each successful enrolment, Government will pay to CSC-SPV Rupees Thirty/- (or as agreed from time to time) as enrolment charge. Common Service Centre (CSC) shall not charge any money from the beneficiaries.

Leaving the Scheme

The exit provisions and benefits thereunder, of this Scheme are as under, namely:-

• in case an eligible subscriber exits this Scheme within a period of less than ten years from the date of joining the Scheme by him, then the share of contribution by him only will be returned to him with savings bank rate of interest payable thereon;

• if an eligible subscriber exits after completion of a period of ten years or more from the date of joining the Scheme by him but before his age of sixty years, then his share of contribution only shall be returned to him along with accumulated interest thereon as actually earned by the Pension Fund or the interest at the savings bank interest rate thereon, whichever is higher;

• if an eligible subscriber has given regular contributions and died due to any cause, his spouse shall be entitled to continue with the Scheme subsequently by payment of regular contribution as applicable or exit by receiving the share of contribution paid by such subscriber along with accumulated interest, as actually earned thereon by the Pension Fund, or at the savings bank interest rate thereon, whichever is higher;

• after death of the subscriber and his or her spouse, the corpus shall be credited back to the fund;

• in case of exit on account of above clauses, the accumulated share of Government’s contribution shall be credited back to the Pension Fund;

• any other exit provision, including nomination, as may be decided by the Central Government by issuing instructions from time to time.

Disablement of Subscriber

If an eligible subscriber has given regular contributions and become permanently disabled due to any cause before attaining his age of sixty years, and is unable to continue to contribute under this Scheme, his spouse shall be entitled to continue with the Scheme subsequently by payment of regular contribution as applicable or exit the Scheme by receiving the share of contribution deposited by such subscriber, with interest as actually earned thereon by the Pension Fund, or the interest at the savings bank interest rate thereon, whichever is higher.

Death of Subscriber

During the receipt of pension, if an eligible subscriber dies, his spouse shall be only entitled to receive fifty per cent. of the pension received by such eligible subscriber, as family pension and such family pension shall be applicable only to the spouse.

Payment of Pension

Each eligible subscriber under this Scheme shall receive assured minimum monthly pension of three thousand rupees after attaining the age of sixty years through Life Insurance Corporation of India. Once the eligible subscriber joins this Scheme at the entry age between eighteen to forty years, such subscriber has to contribute till attaining the age of sixty years and on attaining his age of sixty years, such subscriber shall be entitled to get the assured minimum monthly pension of three thousand rupees with benefit of family pension.