Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana ( Prime Minister’s People’s Wealth Scheme) is a financial inclusion program of the government of India open to Indian citizens (minors of age 10 and older can also open an account with a guardian to manage it), that aims to expand affordable access to financial services such as bank accounts, remittances, credit, insurance and pensions. This financial inclusion campaign was launched by the Prime Minister of India on 28 August 2014.He had announced this scheme on his first Independence Day speech on 15 August 2014.
Run by Department of financial services, Ministry of Finance, under this scheme 15 million bank accounts were opened on inauguration day.The Guinness Book of World Records recognized this achievement, stating: “The most bank accounts opened in one week as a part of the financial inclusion campaign is 18,096,130 and was achieved by the Government of India from August 23 to 29, 2014”. By 27 June 2018, over 318 million bank accounts were opened and over ₹792 billion (US$12 billion) were deposited under the scheme.
Jan dhan Yojana announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2014 and the scheme was launched on 28 August 2014. The objective of starting the scheme is about 59% of rural women in the name of women, more than 50% of the accounts of facilities assured in the country.
Due to the preparations done in the run-up, as mentioned above, on the inauguration day, 15 million bank accounts were opened.The Prime Minister said on this occasion- “Let us celebrate today as the day of financial freedom.” By September 2014, 30.2 million accounts were opened with State Bank of India 2.99 million accounts, Canara Bank1.621 million accounts, Central Bank Of India 1.598 million accounts and Bank of Baroda with 1.422 million accounts. On 20 January 2015, the scheme entered into Guinness book of world records setting new record for ‘The most bank accounts opened in one week’.
The balance in Jan Dhan accounts rose by more than ₹270 billion (US$3.6 billion) between 9 November 2016 and 23 November 2016. 1.9 million householders have availed the overdraft facility of ₹2.56 billion (US$34 million) by May 2016.Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have got 29% of the total deposits under the scheme,whereas Kerala and Goa became the first states in the country to provide one basic bank account to every household.
The total number of account holders stood at 294.8 million, including 176.1 million account holders from rural and semi-urban branches. A total of 227 million RuPay cards have been issued by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) till August 2017. The amount of deposits rose to ₹656.97 billion (US$8.7 billion) by August 2017.
According to various studies, “Beyond enabling account ownership and the use of financial services, the PMJDY also facilitated financial inclusion for a variety of demographics. While the programme has made significant headway towards genuine financial inclusion, it is clear that improving policy communication, widening and deepening progress in low-income states, and ironing out the kinks in the bank-agent model will be crucial if these hard-fought gains are to prove sustainable.”At least 300 million new families have got Jan Dhan accounts in which almost ₹650 billion (US$8.6 billion) have been deposited, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on 28 August 2017, on the eve of third anniversary of the scheme aimed at financial inclusion.
As on January 27, 2021, a total number of 41.75 crore accounts have been opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) out of which 35.96 crore accounts are operative.
DK Blogs 