Jan Dhan Accounts get a boost from Budget 2018

“The government will expand the coverage under Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana by bringing all sixty crore basic accounts within its fold,” said the Finance Minister.

Rs 2000 rupee currency notes. Photo: IANS

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rolled out measures for Prime Minister Jan Dhan Account to further strengthen its performance in FY19.

During his Budget 2018 speech, Jaitley said, “The government will expand the coverage under Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana by bringing all sixty crore basic accounts within its fold.”

He said that such measure is undertaken to provide services of micro insurance and unorganized sector pension schemes through these accounts.

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.

Account can be opened in any bank branch or Business Correspondent (Bank Mitr) outlet. Accounts opened under PMJDY are being opened with Zero balance. However, if the account-holder wishes to get cheque book, he/she will have to fulfill minimum balance criteria.

As of January 24, 2018, PMJDY has total of 31.01 crore beneficiaries with deposits of Rs 73,588.56 crore.

Among which Public sector banks (PSBs) have highest beneficiaries to 25.04 crore with deposits of Rs 58,913.54 crore, while regional banks have 4.98 crore beneficiaries - having deposits of Rs 12,492.19 crore and that of private banks had 0.99 crore beneficiaries - with deposits of Rs 2,182.83 crore.

It may be noted that number of woman beneficiaries in rural - urban region stood at 16.36 crore. Also, number of Rupay Debit Cards issued to beneficiaries was at 23.40 crore.

During Economic Survey 2018, the ministry revealed that the introduction of technology and the JAM (Jan Dhan—Aadhaar— Mobile) architecture, now enhanced by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), holds the potential for significant improvements in such capacity.