Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana completes eight years of successful implementation.

• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana PMJDY, the National Mission for Financial Inclusion completed eight years of successful implementation, August 28th.
• More than 46.25 crore beneficiaries banked under PMJDY since inception, amounting to over one lakh 73 thousand crore rupees. PMJDY Accounts grew three-fold from 14.72 crore in March 2015 to 46.25 crore as on the 10th of this month.
• 56 percent Jan-Dhan account holders are women and 67 percent of Jan Dhan accounts are in rural and semi-urban areas. 31.94 crore RuPay cards have been issued to PMJDY account holders.
• On the occasion 8th Anniversary of PMJDY, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that financial inclusion is a major step towards inclusive growth which ensures the overall economic development of marginalised sections of society. She said the continuation of PMJDY beyond 2018 saw a marked shift in approach to meet the challenges and requirements of the emerging financial inclusion landscape in the country.
• The Minister said, the underlying pillars of PMJDY, namely, Banking the Unbanked, Securing the Unsecured, and Funding the Unfunded have made it possible to adopt multi-stakeholders collaborative approach while leveraging technology for serving the unserved and underserved areas as well.
• She said financial inclusion needs policy-led intervention based on an architecture linked to suitable financial products, information, and communication technologies, and data infrastructure.
• PMJDY has become the foundation stone for the government’s people-centric economic initiatives.

About Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

• The PMJDY was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address in 2014.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was launched by Narendra Modi on 28th August 2014
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking/ Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner.

Objectives:

• Ensure access of financial products & services at an affordable cost
• Use of technology to lower cost & widen reach

Basic tenets of the scheme

• Banking the unbanked – Opening of basic savings bank deposit (BSBD) account with minimal paperwork, relaxed KYC, e-KYC, account opening in camp mode, zero balance & zero charges
• Securing the unsecured – Issuance of Indigenous Debit cards for cash withdrawals & payments at merchant locations, with free accident insurance coverage of Rs. 2 lakh
• Funding the unfunded – Other financial products like micro-insurance, overdraft for consumption, micro-pension & micro-credit