Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister, stated on Monday that nine years of PMJDY-led initiatives and digital transformation had changed financial inclusion in India.
The Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana
The Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the world’s largest financial inclusion campaign, reached the 500 million milestone on Monday, nine years after it was established, with over 2 lakh crore deposits and over 55.5% of bank accounts held by women, according to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
She said in a statement that the nine years of PMJDY-led initiatives and digital transformation in India had changed financial inclusion. She also noted that the creation of Jan Dhan accounts has brought over 500 million individuals into the official banking system, which is encouraging.
“According to Sitharaman, “The PMJDY stands out as an important initiative because of the combined efforts of stakeholders, banks, insurance companies, and government officials, which have changed the country’s financial inclusion landscape.
PMJDY is one of the three pillars of the worldwide famous diversion-proofed subsidy delivery method JAM (Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar, and mobile). The government sends subsidies or social payments directly into the bank accounts of the impoverished through JAM.
Women held 55.5% of the PMJDY accounts, and 67% were opened in rural and semi-urban regions. According to Sitharaman, around 340 million RuPay cards have been provided free of charge to these accounts, which also have a 2 lakh accident insurance cover.
Modi originally mentioned this idea in his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2014, as well as a festival to commemorate the poor’s escape from a vicious cycle.
Sitharaman stated that financial inclusion takes the poor’s savings into the official financial system and offers a channel for them to transmit money to their family in villages, as well as removing them from the clutches of usurious money lenders.
Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad, Union Minister of State for Finance, stated that the initiative had “reduced financial untouchability” by bringing neglected parts of society within the realm of official banking. The scheme’s outcomes are far-reaching and have a multiplier effect on the economy, he added, by providing vulnerable sections of society with access to banking facilities, facilitating access to availability of credit, provision of pension and insurance coverage, and promoting financial literacy.
The smooth transfer of government benefits into the accounts of the average person has been made possible by the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) architecture. PMJDY accounts are now the main focus of interventions that put the needs of individuals first, including DBT [direct benefit transfer], and have contributed to the inclusive growth of all segments of society, particularly the impoverished.”
The initiative offers basic financial services to the unbanked. It allows you to create a basic savings bank deposit account with minimum paperwork and with no amount or costs.
PMJDY has been utilized to give welfare packages to the needy, including COVID-19 cash support, PM-Kisan, enhanced salaries under MGNREGA, and insurance coverage, without any pilferage. Within 10 days of the countrywide COVID lockout, about 200 million women’s PMJDY accounts were credited with $500 per month for three months via DBT.
The plan also includes a Jan Dhan Darshak smartphone application, which serves as a citizen-centric platform for identifying financial touchpoints like as bank branches, ATMs, and so on. On the app, over 1.3 million banking touchpoints have been identified.