Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY, translation: 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 Narendra Modi on 28 August 2014.[1] He had announced this scheme on his first Independence Day speech on 15 August 2014.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)
PM Modi launches the " Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana"
CountryIndia
Prime Minister(s)Narendra Modi
MinistryFinance
Key peopleNirmala Sitharaman
Launched28 August 2014 (2014-08-28)
StatusActive
Websitewww.pmjdy.gov.in

Run by Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, under this scheme 15 million bank accounts were opened on inauguration day.[2][3] 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".[4] By 27 June 2018, over 318 million bank accounts were opened and over ₹792 billion (US$12 billion) were deposited under the scheme.[5]

History

The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2014. Slogan of the Scheme is "Mera Khatha, Bhagya Vidhatha" (meaning "My account brings me good fortune")[6] The scheme was launched after the failure of previous government schemes, including Swabhimaan.[7] Swabhimaan was a 2011 campaign of the Government of India which aims to bring banking services to large rural areas.

Investments

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana statistics as on 13 Jan 2021 (All figures in crore)[5]

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.

Bank Type Number of Accounts Balance in Accounts Number of RuPay Cards
Rural/SemiUrban Rural Female Urban Total
Public Sector Banks 20.21 18.09 12.77 32.98 106471.60 26.13
Regional Rural Banks 6.51 4.29 0.92 7.43 26547.44 3.39
Private Banks 0.69 0.69 0.56 1.25 4176.90 1.12
Total 27.40 23.07 14.25 41.65 137195.93 30.65

Performance

Due to the preparations done in the run-up, as mentioned above, on the inauguration day, 15 million bank accounts were opened.[2] 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 Bank 1.621 million accounts, Central Bank of India 1.598 million accounts and Bank of Baroda with 1.422 million accounts.[8] 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'.[9]

The balance in Jan Dhan accounts rose by more than ₹270 billion (US$3.8 billion) between 9 November 2016 and 23 November 2016.[10] 1.9 million householders have availed the overdraft facility of ₹2.56 billion (US$36 million) by May 2016.[11] Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have got 29% of the total deposits under the scheme,[12] whereas Kerala and Goa became the first states in the country to provide one basic bank account to every household.[13]

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$9.2 billion) by August 2017.[6]

According to an analysis of 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."[14] At least 300 million new families have got Jan Dhan accounts in which almost ₹650 billion (US$9.1 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.

Criticism

The scheme has been criticized by opposition as an effort to please voters that has created unnecessary work-burden on the public-sector banks. According to the experts, offers like zero balance, free insurance and overdraft facility would result in duplication. Many individuals who already have bank accounts may have had accounts created for themselves, lured by the insurance covers and overdraft facilities.[15] As per the scheme, a very few people are eligible to get the life insurance worth ₹30,000 (US$420) with a validity of just five years.[16] The claimed overdraft facility has been completely left upon the banks. As per the government notice, only those people would get the overdraft facility whose transaction record has satisfactory operations in their account for some time.[17]

In addition, while the Indian Government was actively attempting to promote financial inclusion through this scheme, the Reserve Bank of India, permitted banks to charge customers for conducting ATM transactions beyond a certain number of times per month. This effectively prevented people from easily accessing their own savings and discouraged them from using formal banking channels.[18][19][20]

See also

References
  1. Prime Minister to Launch Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana Tomorrow, Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India, 27 August 2014
  2. ET Bureau (28 August 2014), PM 'Jan Dhan' Yojana launched; aims to open 1.5 crore bank accounts on first day, The Economic Times
  3. "Modi: Banking for all to end "financial untouchability"". Reuters. 28 August 2014.
  4. "Jan Dhan Yojana features in Guinness Book of World Records with 11.5 cr bank accounts". The Indian Express. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  5. "Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana", pmjdy.gov.in
  6. "Jan Dhan scheme: Going strong 3 years on", The Hindu Business Line, 14 August 2017
  7. "Why government's financial inclusion plans are floundering", Business Standard, 23 November 2015
  8. "SBI takes lead in opening bank accounts under Jan Dhan Yojana", The Economic Times, 11 September 2014
  9. "India makes financial world record as millions open new bank accounts", Guinness World Records, 20 January 2015
  10. "Keep the black money deposited in your account: PM to Jan Dhan holders", The Economic Times, 3 December 2016
  11. "Financial inclusion gets a boost with Jan Dhan Yojana", The Economic Times, 11 May 2016
  12. "Why Jan-Dhan Yojana is gaining currency in Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal", Business Standard, 26 May 2016
  13. "Over 26k Jan Dhan bank accounts in Goa have zero balance", The Times of India, 2 June 2016
  14. "The admirable success of the Jan Dhan Yojana". Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  15. "Critics attack 'wasteful, ineffective' PM Jan Dhan Yojana". Moneycontrol.com.
  16. "PMJDY Guidelines & Features" (PDF). LIC India.
  17. "Facilities Available to Account Holders Under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) to be Extended to the Existing Account Holders as Well", PIB
  18. "Making ATM transactions expensive: Is RBI contradicting its own stance? - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  19. Rebello, Joel (15 September 2014). "Rajan defends RBI stand ATM fees, two-factor authentication". livemint.com/. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  20. Shetty, Mayur (4 July 2017). "Vague RBI guidelines see banks cap PM's Jan Dhan Yojana accounts". The Economic Times. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
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