Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has indicated that the proposed 'Dada-Dadi' bonds for pensioners, scheduled to be launched on April, will run side-by-side with Life Insurance Corporation's Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana.

"The Varishtha scheme will continue next fiscal. It will be in addition to the proposed Dadi-Dadi bonds," Singh told PTI, while seeking to allay fears that LIC's pension scheme would be discontinued after the new bond was issued.

Pension scheme for the aged launched

Reserve Bank of India is working out the modalities of the scheme, which would offer higher return than most of the savings instruments in the country.

Pensioners were hit hard by the falling interest rates in the last few years as their only source of income -- interest on savings instruments -- have gone down drastically.

In view of the hardship faced by elders, Singh announced the Dada-Dadi bonds in his mini-budget on January nine, which would offer a higher return to elders.

Last year, government unveiled the subsidised Varishtha scheme to provide a 9.0 per cent assured return to senior citizens in the form of a monthly pension ranging between Rs 250-2,000.

LIC has already mopped up Rs 4,500 crore (Rs 45 billion) in premium from the Varishtha scheme after selling 250,000 policies, and targets to collect Rs 5,500-6,000 crore (Rs 55-Rs 60 billion) by March end.