Bank accounts opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana crosses 40-crore mark

Under the Government’s flagship financial inclusion drive Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), which was launched about six years ago by the Modi-government, more than 40 crore bank accounts have been opened so far.

According to the latest data, there are 40.05 crore beneficiaries of this scheme and deposits in Jan Dhan bank accounts are more than Rs 1.30 lakh crore (US$ 18.44 billion).

As per the Department of Financial Services tweet, "Another milestone achieved under world's largest financial inclusion initiative, PMJDY: Total accounts opened under the scheme crosses 40 crore mark. Committed to take financial inclusion to the last mile!".

This achievement comes just ahead of the sixth anniversary of PMJDY launch. The scheme was launched on August 28, 2014 with an aim to provide universal access to banking facilities to the people in the country.

Under PMJDY, accounts opened are Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts with additional features of RuPay debit card and overdraft. These accounts do not require to maintain minimum balance in BSBD accounts.

The Government has also increased the accident insurance cover to Rs 2 lakh (US$ 2,837.28), from Rs 1 lakh (US$ 1,418.64) for new accounts opened after August 28, 2018, in order to enhance the scheme. Moreover, the overdraft limit facility was also doubled to Rs 10,000 (US$ 141.86).

The focus was also shifted on accounts from "every household" to "every unbanked adult".

Women holds over 50 per cent of the Jan Dhan account and receives Rs 1,500 (US$ 21.27) per account in three equal monthly instalments by the government as part of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to support the poor during the COVID-19 crisis.

On March 26, 2020, the Government announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 500 (US$ 7.09) to be credited to women Jan Dhan account holders for three months starting from April.

The aim of PMJDY is to guarantee access to various financial services like availability of basic savings bank account, access to need based credit, remittances facility, insurance and pension to weaker sections and low-income groups.

The PMJDY also envisages channelling all government benefits to the beneficiary accounts and pushing the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme of the central government.