Dormant bank account numbers high in India: World Bank

Even as the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan financial inclusion scheme has enrolled over 12 crore new bank account holders, only 57 percent of the accounts have been found to be active in the real sense, according to a World Bank report.

"The dormancy rate in India is quite high at 43 percent and accounts for about 195 million of the 460 million adults with a dormant account around the world," the report said.

"By the end of January 2015, it (Jan-Dhan) had led to the opening of 125 million new bank accounts; as a point of comparison, a 2013 survey had found that fewer than 400 million people in the country had an account," it added.

Moreover, only 39 percent of all account holders in India own a debit or an ATM card, it said.

Most of the world's unbanked are in China, India and Indonesia.

The World Bank said: "18 percent of adults in south Asia own a debit card, compared to 31 percent in developing countries on average."