Unorganized sector pension planattracts just 5 mm subscribers in 5 years

Since its launch in March 2019, the government’s primary pension scheme for unorganized sector workers, Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan (PMSYM) yojana, has garnered just over 5 million subscribers.

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This has sparked concerns regarding the scheme’s feasibility and efficacy in delivering social security to millions of unorganized sector workers. Information from the Maandhan portal indicates that the pension scheme surpassed the 5-million subscriber milestone in April 2024.

While 4.3 million people had joined the scheme in FY20, merely 130,000 people were inducted in FY21, followed by 161,000 subscribers in the subsequent financial year. Around 255,000 people had exited the scheme in FY22, thus further deteriorating the subscriber base. It added nearly 600,000 subscribers in FY24. This is against a target enrolment of 10 million beneficiaries in each of the financial years, starting 2020-21.