More than 40.35 crore people benefited from the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) which was launched six years ago as a national mission for financial inclusion.

The Jan Dhan Yojana, which was announced by PM Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address in 2014, was launched on August 28 in the same year.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was announced as a national mission on financial inclusion to ensure comprehensive financial inclusion of all the households in the country by providing universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic bank account to every household, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension facility. 

Census 2011 estimated that out of 24.67 crore households in the country, only 14.48 crore (58.7 per cent) had access to banking services. In the first phase of the scheme, these households were targeted for inclusion through opening of a bank account within a year of launch of the scheme.

Financial inclusion is a national priority of the government as it is an enabler for inclusive growth. It provides an avenue to the poor for bringing their savings into the formal financial system, an avenue to remit money to their families in villages besides taking them out of the clutches of the usurious money lenders. 

Jan Dhan Yojna is one of the biggest financial inclusion initiatives in the world.

Under this scheme, a person not having a savings account can open an account without the requirement of any minimum balance. It offers basic savings bank accounts with overdraft facility of Rs 10,000 to every household.

How does it help in financial inclusion? 

PMJDY aims to provide universal banking services for every unbanked household, based on the guiding principles of banking the unbanked, securing the unsecured, funding the unfunded and serving the unserved and underserved areas.

Banking the unbanked: Opening of basic savings bank deposit account with minimal paperwork, relaxed KYC, e-KYC, account opening in camp mode, zero balance and zero charge.

Securing the unsecured: Issuance of indigenous debit cards for cash withdrawals and payments at merchant locations, with free accident insurance coverage of Rs 2 lakh.

Funding the unfunded: Other financial products like micro-insurance, overdraft for consumption, micro-pension & micro-credit.

Whether it is direct benefit transfers, COVID-19 financial assistance, PM-KISAN, increased wages under MGNREGA, life and health insurance cover, the first step was to provide every adult with a bank account, which PMJDY has nearly completed. 

A majority of the beneficiaries are women and most of the accounts are from rural India. 

As on August 19, PMJDY has more than 40.35 crore accounts with total deposits in excess of Rs 1.30 lakh crore. As many as 34.81 crore accounts (86.3 per cent) are operative. Average deposit per account is Rs 3,239.

Out of the total PMJDY account holders, 63.6 per cent are in rural areas and 55.2 per cent accounts belong to women.

About eight crore PMJDY account holders receive direct benefit transfer from the government under various schemes. Direct benefit transfer through PM Jan Dhan accounts have ensured every rupee reaches its intended beneficiary.

Other major highlights of PMJDY

To expand the reach of banking services, all of over six lakh villages in the country were mapped into 1.6 lakh Sub Service Areas (SSAs), with each SSA typically comprising 1,000 to 1,500 households. In the 1.26 lakh SSAs that did not have a bank branch, Bank Mitras were deployed for branchless banking.

Thus, PMJDY offers unbanked persons easy access to banking services and awareness about financial products through financial literacy programmes. 

In addition, they receive a RuPay Debit Card, with accident insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh, and access to overdraft facility upon satisfactory operation of account or credit history of six months. As many as 29.75 crore RuPay cards are issued to PMJDY account holders.  

Through Prime Minister’s Social Security Schemes, all eligible account holders can access personal accident insurance cover under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, life insurance cover under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, and guaranteed minimum pension to subscribers under Atal Pension Yojana.

A mobile application — Jan Dhan Darshak — was launched in 2018 to provide a citizen centric platform for locating banking touchpoints such as bank branches, ATMs, Bank Mitras, post offices, etc in the country. Over eight lakh banking touchpoints have been mapped on the app.

There are plans to ensure coverage of PMJDY account holders under micro insurance schemes and improving access to micro-credit and micro-investment, such as flexi-recurring deposit.  

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