New Delhi, Jan 5 (IANS): Around 65 lakh individuals have enrolled for the Centre-backed pension scheme, Atal Pension Yojana, so far in FY22.

The Centre's flagship social security scheme was launched in 2015 with an objective of providing income security in old age.

Over the past six-and-a-half years, 3.68 crore people have enrolled under the scheme, a Ministry of Finance statement said on Wednesday.

"This feat of bringing the most vulnerable sections of the society under the coverage of pension was possible only with the untiring efforts of public and private banks, regional rural banks, payments banks, small finance banks, co-operative banks, postal department and the support extended by the state-level bankers' committees," said Supratim Bandyopadhyay, Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), which administers Atal Pension Yojana.

In FY22, the Centre aims to take the enrolment to 1 crore.

"In addition to achieving one crore enrolment during the current financial year, going forward we have the task of achieving pension saturation in the country and we shall continuously undertake proactive initiatives for achieving it," Bandyopadhyay said.

The pension scheme can be subscribed by citizens in the age group of 18-40 years having a bank account.

The scheme provides a minimum guaranteed pension ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 on attaining 60 years of age.

Besides, the amount of pension is guaranteed for lifetime to the spouse on the death of the subscriber, and in the event of death of both the subscriber and the spouse, the entire pension corpus is paid to the nominee.

To avail the pension benefits, subscribers need to contribute a portion and rest is borne by the government.