Deposits in bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) scheme have crossed the Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark. The scheme was launched about seven and half years ago by the government.
According to the latest finance ministry data, the total balance is over 44.23 crore. Of the total 44.23 crore accounts, 34.9 crore were with the public sector banks, 8.05 crore with regional rural banks, and the rest 1.28 crore with private sector banks.
The Jan Dhan account was at Rs 1,50,939.36 crore at December end, 2021.
PMJDY, the National Mission for Financial Inclusion, was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address on August 15, 2014 and had completed seven years of implementation last year.
Besides, 31.28 crore PMJDY beneficiaries were issued RuPay debit cards. Notably, the number of RuPay cards and their usage has increased over time.
As per the same data, 29.54 crore Jan Dhan accounts were held in rural and semi-urban bank branches. Nearly 24.61 crore account holders were women as of December 29, 2021.
During the first year of the scheme 17.90 crore PMJDY accounts were opened.
As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guideline, there is no requirement of maintaining minimum balance in Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts, including Jan Dhan accounts.
As of December 8, 2021, the total number of zero balance accounts was 3.65 crore, which constituted about 8.3 per cent of the total Jan Dhan accounts, the government had informed Parliament last month.
