Last updated: July 4th, 2019 10:26 AM

Pension for Traders

The Government has approved a scheme of Pension for Traders on 31st May 2019. The Union Cabinet, managed by the Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a new scheme that offers pension to the trading community. The scheme has been launched as a part of Prime Minister's vision to provide a robust architecture for universal social security. Let us look in detail about the scheme.

Benefits of the Scheme

Pension Scheme for Traders grants all a minimum of Rs. 3000 per month to shopkeepers, retail traders and self-employed individuals. However, all eligible beneficiaries should have attained 60 years of age. As per latest press release (3rd July 2019), the eligibility of the traders are provided below:

1. All shopkeepers/retail-traders/ self-employed persons in the age group of 18-40 years are eligible to be the member, on self-declaration.
2. A shop keeper/ retail-trader /self-employed person if registered with GSTN, his/ her firm’s annual turnover should not exceed Rs.1.5 crore.
3. He/she should not be an income tax payee.
4. He/she should not be a member of EPFO/ESIC/NPS/PM-SYM.
5. The Central Government’s share will be matching to the subscriber’s contribution

The press notification can be accessed below:

Eligible Standards

Those small shopkeepers, self-employed individuals and retailers who have a GST turnover below Rs. 1.5 Crore and aged between 18-40 can enrol and are eligible to apply for this scheme. Having said this, with proper implementation of the scheme, over 3 Crore small shopkeepers and traders.

Application Procedure

The scheme is based on self-declaration, and therefore, there are no documents required to apply for this scheme. In order to transfer the pension amount to the beneficiary's account, there would be a requirement of Aadhaar and bank account. Traders can enrol through Common Service Centres that are located throughout the country.

Fund Allocation

The Government of India contributes to the subscribers' account. For instance, if an individual of age 29 years contributes Rs. 100 per month, then the Central Government contributes the equal amount as subsidy into the subscriber's pension account every month.