BENGALURU: After the success of Atal Pension Yojana (APY) and the opening of bank accounts, the government is lining up a major push for retirement savings under its financial inclusion programme, according to indiatimes.com.

In the light of past few months, the somewhat poor response to the pension scheme has prodded the government to tap other sales options besides popularizing it. In any case, financial sector experts believe that pension plans are the toughest to sell. Unlike several other financial products, which are "bought", pension schemes have to be "sold". In other words, the agent has to spend considerable time explaining the need to plan for old age.

However, unlike the group life insurance scheme or the accident cover launched by the Narendra Modi government, the Atal Pension Yojana has been slow to take off, although it has picked up in recent weeks. Of the 12.15 crore policies sold under the Jan Suraksha Yojana, there were only 11 lakh Atal Pension Yojana plans. In contrast, a little under 9.2 crore accident insurance policies, that cost Rs 12 a year, have been sold.

Now the finance ministry has begun talks to rope in atleast 1.5 lakh post offices along with kirana shops and chemists to sell pension plans with an assurance of basic minimum returns. The department of posts is also launching its payments bank operations soon and has decided to tweak its core banking software to push the Atal Pension Yojana.

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