The Prime Minister of the country had started the PM Jan Dhan Yojana 9 years ago. Under which free accounts of people were opened in the country. At present the number of this account has crossed 51 crores. The special thing is that people have more than Rs 2 lakh crore kept in these accounts. In fact, on Tuesday in Parliament, the country’s Union Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, gave information about bank accounts under the 9-year-old Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). He said that the number of Jan Dhan accounts in the country has crossed the 500 million mark, with total deposits amounting to more than Rs 2 trillion. This means that on an average around Rs 4000 is deposited in the Jan Dhan accounts of the country.
There is no money in the account more than Rs 4 crore
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that till November 29, 510.4 million PMJDY accounts have been opened with a deposit amount of Rs 2.08 lakh crore. The minister said that PMJDY was launched as a national mission on August 28, 2014. Its objective is to provide banking facilities to all people. The minister further said that there is no provision for small investments like flexi-recurring deposits in the PMJDY scheme. However, PMJDY account holders can avail small investment facility from their banks. The minister also said that as of November 22, 43 million PMJDY accounts have zero balance as there is no requirement to maintain minimum balance in these accounts.
Private sector needs to come forward
Earlier, speaking at the 20th Global Inclusive Finance Summit, Finance Services Secretary Vivek Joshi asked private sector banks to increase their participation in government programs like PMJDY and Jan Suraksha. Joshi said that while public sector banks actively participate, mainstream private sector banks do not and they need to get involved. Apart from PMJDY, Mudra Yojana and Standup India Scheme have also been launched by the government. Joshi also said that currently, 18 percent PMJDY accounts are inactive. Apart from this, he asked banks and financial institutions to work on three areas – getting KYC done for inoperative accounts, enrollment for bank accounts and strengthening cyber security.
