On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan-Yojana (PM-JDY) on Wednesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stressed the importance of financial inclusion and said universal and affordable access to formal banking services is key to integrating the low-income people into the country’s economic mainstream.

Launched in 2014, PM-JDY brought over 53 crore people under the formal banking system, with around Rs 2.3 lakh crore in deposits. Sitharaman said, “It (scheme) integrates the poor into the economic mainstream and plays a crucial role in the development of marginalised communities.”

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Jan-Dhan-Yojana accounts are free and don’t require a minimum account balance. As per a government notification, accountholders have been issued over 36 crore free RuPay cards, with in-built accidental insurance coverage of Rs 2 lakh. Of all the Jan-Dhan accounts, around 56 per cent were opened by women and around 67 per cent were opened in rural and semi-urban areas.

Apparently, the scheme enables accountholders to access bank credit facilities based on their financial history, savings, etc., in these accounts, which was difficult earlier.

Jan Dhan Yojana And Its Features:

The PM-JDY scheme aims to provide financial inclusion to marginalised communities through banking and other financial facilities via a basic savings bank deposit account (BSBD).

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The salient features are as follows:

• The applicant’s age must be between 18 and 65.
• The applicant should not have a savings bank account.
• There is no minimum account balance requirement, or maintenance charge.
• The bank pays interest on the deposit amount.
• Free RuPay cards to accountholders, with an accidental insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh.
• Eligible accountholders can avail of an overdraft facility of up to Rs 10,000.
• If the accountholder is a beneficiary of government schemes, the amount is directly transferred to their accounts. These include Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency Bank (MUDRA) scheme.