Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana: Poor participation by private banks

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the ambitious financial inclusion programme, has seen tepid response from private sector banks, which accounted for just 3.76% of the total number of accounts opened and 4.21% of the balance in those accounts.

As expected, public sector banks (PSBs) accounted for the largest share, having 78% of the total number of accounts opened and holding 78.6% of the balance lying in these accounts, as on 2 December, 2015. 

The rest of the accounts were opened with regional rural banks. As for private sector banks, 73 lakh accounts were opened in which the balance as on 2 December, 2015 was Rs 1,149.36 crore.

In all, 19.41 crore accounts were opened since the PMJDY was announced by Modi on 15 August, 2014. The balance in these accounts stood at Rs 27,283 crore. Of the 19.41 crore bank accounts, 34% were zero-balance accounts, the government said in a press release on Tuesday.

Zero balance accounts under the tPMJDY fell from 76% in Septmber 2014 to 36.50% as on 11 November, 2015.

The Modi government initiated the PMJDY to provide 'universal access to banking facilities' that comprised a bank account and an overdraft up to Rs 5,000 subject to satisfactory operations in the account for six months and RuPay Debit card with in-built accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh.

Besides, the government transferred about Rs 17,446 crore of subsidy to these accounts between November 2014 and July 2015, under the direct benefit transfer of LPG (DBTL).

On the overdraft front, about 8.86 lakh account holders availed of the facility amounting to Rs.124.95 lakh till 13 November, 2015. Besides, the government also settled life insurance claims of about 1650 account holders.

In the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) that was launched on 8 April, 2015, the Modi government disbursed Rs 45,948.28 crore to 66 lakh borrowers as on 25 November, 2015.

Under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), launched on 1 June, 2015, the government enrolled 10.35 lakh till 24 November, 2015. The scheme is available at various CBS-enabled banks.