8 Years of Pradhan Mantri Jan-DhanYojana (PMJDY)

Context

Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojana (PMJDY) - National Mission for Financial Inclusion recently completed eight years of its implementation.

About PMJDY

• Pradhan Mantri Jan-DhanYojana (PMJDY) was launched on 28th August 2014. 
  • Prime Minister Modi first announced this scheme during his Independence Day speech on 15th August 2014.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojana (PMJDY) is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure affordability in access to financial services, namely-
  • Banking/ Savings & Deposit Accounts
  • Remittance
  • Credit
  • Insurance
  • Pension 

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 lakhs.
• Funding the unfunded: Other financial products like micro-insurance, overdraft for consumption, micro-pension & micro-credit.

Achievements of the Scheme

• Approach towards Digital Banking
• Opening of online accounts
• Focus has shifted from ‘Every Household’ to Every Unbanked Adult’.
• Fixed-point Business Correspondents.
• Simplified KYC / e-KYC in place of cumbersome KYC formalities.
• Extension of PMJDY with New Features
• RuPay Card Insurance:Free accidental insurance cover on RuPay cards increased from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh for PMJDY accounts opened after 28th August 2018.
• Enabling Interoperability:Through Rupay debit card or Aadhar enabled Payment System (AePS).
• Enhancement in overdraft facilities
• Overdraft (OD) limit doubled from Rs 5,000/- to Rs 10,000/-; OD uptoRs 2,000/- (without conditions).
• Increase in upper age limit for OD from 60 to 65 years.
• Jan DhanDarshak App
• A mobile application,Jan DhanDarshak App was launched to provide a citizen centric platform for locating banking touch points such as bank branches, ATMs, Bank Mitras, Post Offices, etc. in the country.
• Increased Financial Inclusion
• Within 10 days of nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19, more than about 20 crore women PMJDY accounts were credited with ex-gratia.

• Formalisation of Financial System
• It provides an avenue for the poor to bring their savings into the formal financial system, an avenue to remit money to their families in villages besides taking them out of the clutches of the usurious money lenders.
• Prevention of Leakage
• DBTs via PM Jan Dhan accounts have ensured every rupee reaches its intended beneficiary and prevents systemic leakage.
• Smooth DBT transactions
• Close monitoring to avoid DBT failures in consultation with DBT Mission National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI),banks and various other Ministries ensures that the eligible beneficiaries receive their DBT in time.
• Digital transactions
• The total number of digital transactions have gone up from 978 crore in FY 2016-17 to 7,195 crore in FY 2021-22.