Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (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
It is important as 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. A key initiative towards this commitment is the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), which is one of the biggest financial inclusion initiatives in the world.
PMJDY: Foundation Stone for People-Centric Economic Initiatives
Whether it is direct benefit transfers, COVID-19 financial assistance, PM-KISAN, increased wages under MGNREGA, life and health insurance cover, the first step of all these initiatives is to provide every adult with a bank account, which PMJDY has nearly completed.
In today's COVID-19 times, we have witnessed the remarkable swiftness and seamlessness with which Direct Benefit Transfer (DBTs) have empowered and provided financial security to the vulnerable sections of society. An important aspect is that DBTs via PM Jan Dhan accounts have ensured every rupee reaches its intended beneficiary and preventing systemic leakage.
As this scheme has completed 7 years of successful implementation, we thought of sharing some of the major milestones it has achieved so far.
Achievements of PMJDY:
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More than 43.04 crore beneficiaries banked under PMJDY since inception, amounting to Rs. 146,231 crore
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PMJDY Accounts have grown three-fold from 14.72 Crore in Mar’15 to 43.04 Crore as on 18-08-2021
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55% Jan-Dhan account holders are women and 67% Jan Dhan accounts are in rural and semi-urban areas
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Out of total 43.04 crore PMJDY accounts, 36.86 crore (86%) are operative
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Total RuPay cards issued to PMJDY accountholders: 31.23 Crore
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Under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, a total of Rs. 30,945 crore have been credited in accounts of women PMJDY account holders during Covid lockdown
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About 5.1 crore PMJDY accountholders receive direct benefit transfer (DBT) from the Government under various schemes
“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”– Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
The Path Forward:
PMJDY aims to ensure coverage of Jan Dhan account holders under micro insurance schemes. Eligible PMJDY accountholders will be sought to be covered under PMJJBY and PMSBY. Banks have already been communicated about the same.
Promotion of digital payments including RuPay debit card usage amongst PMJDY accountholders through creation of acceptance infrastructure across India
Improving access of PMJDY account holders to Micro-credit and micro investment such as flexi-recurring deposit etc.
