Deposits under financial inclusion scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has crossed Rs. 42,000 crore-mark and the percentage of zero-balance accounts has fallen below 25 per cent.
Since April, there has been an addition of about Rs. 6,000 crore under PMJDY.
At the beginning of the financial year, the deposit base was about Rs. 36,000 crore and it increased to Rs. 42,504 crore as on September 7.
The balance in Jan Dhan accounts has been steadily rising and the government will use such accounts for direct benefit transfers with a view check pilferage, while adding that these balances have stayed with the banks for a long time.
As many as 24.27 crore accounts have been opened under the scheme and the percentage of zero balance has come down to 24.43 per cent.
Background:
PMJDY was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day – 2014 speech and was formally launched by him on August 28, 2014 with the main objective of covering all households with at least one bank account per household across the country.
