‘Paramount in boosting financial inclusion’: PM Modi lauds 10 years of Jan Dhan Yojana

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lauded the Jan Dhan Yojana after the scheme completed 10 years and said that it has been paramount in boosting financial inclusion and giving dignity to crores of people.

In a post on X, PM Modi said, “Today, we mark a momentous occasion — 10 Years of JanDhan. Congratulations to all the beneficiaries and compliments to all those who worked to make this scheme a success. Jan Dhan Yojana has been paramount in boosting financial inclusion and giving dignity to crores of people, especially women, youth, and marginalized communities”.

Today, we mark a momentous occasion— #10YearsOfJanDhan. Congratulations to all the beneficiaries and compliments to all those who worked to make this scheme a success. Jan Dhan Yojana has been paramount in boosting financial inclusion and giving dignity to crores of people,… pic.twitter.com/VgC7wMcZE8

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 28, 2024

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has achieved a milestone of a total of 53.13 crore PMJDY accounts out of which 55.6 per cent (29.56 crores) Jan Dhan account holders are women and 66.6 per cent (35.37 crores) Jan Dhan accounts are in rural and semi-urban areas, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Wednesday.

Deposit balances under PMJDY Accounts stand at Rs 2,31,236 crore. Deposits have increased about 15 times with an increase in accounts 3.6 times, as of August 14, 2024.The average deposit per account, according to the Finance ministry stood at Rs 4,352, as of 14 August 2024. The deposit per account has increased four times over August 15.

The PMJDY was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address on August 15, 2014. With the issue of over 36.06 crore RuPay debit cards under PMJDY, the installation of 89.67 lakh point-of-sale (PoS/mPoS) machines and the introduction of mobile-based payment systems like UPI, the total number of digital transactions has gone up from 2,338 crore in financial year (FY) 18-19 to 16,443 crore in FY 23-24.

The total number of UPI financial transactions has increased from 535 crore in FY 2018-19 to 13,113 crore in FY 2023-24. Similarly, the total number of RuPay card transactions at PoS & e-commerce has increased from 67 crore in FY 2017-18 to 96.78 crore in FY 2023-24.

The PMJDY is the National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking, Savings and Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, and Pension affordably. The PMJDY provides one basic bank account for every unbanked adult. For this account, there is no need to maintain any balance and also no charges are levied on this account.

In the account, a free-of-cost RuPay Debit card with in-built accident insurance cover of Rs. 2 lakh is also provided to promote digital transactions.PMJDY account holders are also eligible for getting an overdraft of up to Rs. 10,000 to cover exigencies. (ANI)