Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)-National Mission for Financial Inclusion has completed nine years of successful implementation
- IBEF
- August 29, 2023
August 28, 2023, marked the culmination of nine years of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the National Mission for Financial Inclusion.
In his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2014, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi introduced the PMJDY. The Prime Minister had termed the event as a festival to celebrate the liberation of the impoverished from a vicious cycle when the scheme was introduced on August 28, 2014.
The Ministry of Finance, one of the largest financial inclusion initiatives in the world, works tirelessly to provide financial inclusion and support to the marginalised and economically backward sections of society through its financial inclusion-led interventions.
Financial inclusion (FI) encourages equitable and inclusive growth as well as the provision of financial services to weaker and more disadvantaged groups who lack access to basic banking services at a reasonable cost. In addition to releasing the poor from the grip of predatory lenders, financial inclusion also allows the impoverished to transfer money to their families in rural areas and brings their savings into the formal financial system.
The Union Finance Minister, Mr. Nirmala Sitharaman, wrote in a message commemorating the ninth anniversary of PMJDY, "The nine years of PMJDY-led interventions and digital transformation have changed financial inclusion in India. It is heartening to note that more than 50 crore people have been brought into the formal banking system through the opening of Jan Dhan Accounts. Among these accounts, approximately 55.5% belong to women, and 67% have been opened in Rural/Semi-Urban areas.” She added that the cumulative deposits in these accounts have surpassed Rs. 2 lakh crore (US$ 24 billion) and about 34 crore RuPay cards have been issued to these accounts without charge, which additionally provides a Rs. 2 lakh (US$ 2,421.32) accident insurance cover.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is a National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking/Savings and Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, and Pension in an affordable manner.
Total PMJDY accounts as of August 9, 2023, were 50.09 crore; 55.6% (27.82 crore) Jan-Dhan account holders are women, and 66.7% (33.45 crore) are in rural and semi-urban areas.
As of August 16, 2023, PMJDY Accounts have increased by 3.4 times, from 14.72 crore in March to 50.09 crore. Without a doubt, the Financial Inclusion Programme has experienced a remarkable journey. The total amount of deposits under PMJDY Accounts is Rs. 2,03,505 crore (US$ 24.63).
As compared to August 2015, the deposits have increased about 13 times with an increase in accounts 3.34 times in August 2023.
Jan Dhan Darshak (JDD) App is a mobile application that provides a citizen-centric platform for locating banking touch points such as bank branches, ATMs, Banking Correspondents (BCs), Indian Post Payment Banks etc. in the country. Over 13 lakh banking touchpoints have been mapped on the JDD App. A total of 6.01 lakh villages are mapped on the JDD app as of July 2023.
Approximately 6.26 crore PMJDY accountholders get direct benefit transfers (DBT) from the government under various schemes, according to information provided by banks.
The overall number of digital transactions increased from 1,471 crore in FY18 to 11,394 crore in FY23 thanks to the issuance of nearly 33.98 million RuPay debit cards under PMJDY, the installation of 79.61 lakh PoS/mPoS machines, and the launch of mobile-based payment systems like UPI.
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.
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