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The Cabinet has given its nod to turn the Pradhan Mantri JanDhan Yojana (PMJDY) into an open-ended scheme with higher insurance cover and double the overdraft (OD) facility. This is being done to continue the scheme — also known as the National Mission on Financial Inclusion — beyond August 28, 2018.
Briefing mediapersons here after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that with this, the Centre has shifted its emphasis from “each household” to “all adult individuals”. The aim is to ensure the inclusion of all citizens who are outside the formal financing system.
The PMJDY has been a success and the Centre has decided to make it open ended, with the OD limit increased to ₹10,000 from the existing ₹5,000, said Jaitley.
In addition, no condition will be attached for any overdraft up to ₹2,000. The age range for availing the OD facility has been revised from the 18-60 years to 18-65 years.
Also, the accident insurance cover for new RuPay cardholders has been raised to ₹2 lakh.
Under the PMJDY, 32.41 crore accounts have been opened so far, with deposits worth ₹81.2 crore, Jaitley said. He added that it has been touted as the world’s biggest scheme by institutions such as the World Bank.
The Finance Minister said nearly 53 per cent of the account holders are women. Around 59 per cent belong to rural and semi-rural regions and about 83 per cent are Aadhar-seeded, he added.
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