Average amount deposited in Jan Dhan account surges 2.7 times in six years

The average amount deposited in the PM Jan Dhan (PMJDY) account has surged to Rs 3398 from Rs 1279 between 2015 and 2021. The total deposits under these accounts registered a rise of 6.38 times.

The scheme completed seven years of its implementation on Saturday.

According to a statement by the Finance Ministry, as on August 18, the total number of PMJDY Accounts was 43.04 crore, out of which 23.87 crore (over 55 per cent) were women account holders. 28.70 crore accounts (around 67 per cent) are in rural and semi-urban areas. 36.86 crore (nearly 86 per cent) accounts are operative. As per RBI guidelines, a PMJDY account is treated as inoperative if there are no customer induced transactions in the account for over a period of two years.

Total deposit balances under PMJDY accounts stand at over Rs 1.46 lakh crore. As on date only over 8 per cent of the accounts are zero balance accounts. Over 31 crore RuPay cards have been issued.

The statement, based on the information provided by banks, added that about 5 crore PMJDY account holders receive direct benefit transfer (DBT) from the Government under various schemes. To ensure that the eligible beneficiaries receive their DBT in time, the Department plays an active role in avoiding reasons for DBT failures in consultation with DBT Mission, NPCI, banks and various other Ministries. “With close monitoring in this regard through regular VCs with banks and NPCI, the share of DBT failures due to avoidable reasons as a percentage of total DBT failures has decreased from 13.5 per cent (FY 19-20) to 5.7 per cent (FY 20-21),” the statement said.

Commenting on the success of PMJDY, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the journey of PMJDY led interventions undertaken over a short span of 7 years has in effect, produced both transformational as well as directional change thereby making the emerging FI ecosystem capable of delivering financial services to the last person of the society-the poorest of the poor. “The underlying pillars of PMJDY, namely, Banking the Unbanked, Securing the Unsecured and Funding the Unfunded has made it possible to adopt multi-stakeholders’ collaborative approach while leveraging technology for serving the unserved and underserved areas as well,” she said.

Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Bhagwat Karad said that PMJDY has been one of the most far-reaching initiatives towards Financial Inclusion not only in India but in the world. “Financial Inclusion is among top-most priorities 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 besides taking them out of the clutches of the usurious money lenders,” he said.

PMJDY is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking/ Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner. There is no need to maintain minimum balance in these accounts. Following the modification, focus under the scheme has shifted from ‘Every Household’ to Every Unbanked Adult’. Also, overdraft limit and insurance facility on RuPay Card has been doubled to Rs 10,000 and Rs 2 lakh respectively.

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