Jan Dhan: Over 5 crore accounts; Chandigarh, Puducherry all covered

Over five-and-half crore accounts have been opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) scheme for financial inclusion, the finance ministry said here Friday.

"As on Oct 7, 2014, 5.52 crore accounts have been opened and deposits of Rs.4268 crore have been mobilized under PMJDY," said a statement here after a review meeting Thursday of the PMJDY mission director with executive directors of public sector banks and of some private banks.

The review meeting emphasized the early issue of RuPay Debit Cards, e-KYC based account opening, Aadhaar seeding and the progress in survey made in the rural as well as urban areas.

In all, 3.12 crore accounts were opened in rural areas and 2.17 crore in urban areas. RuPay cards have been issued in 1.78 crore accounts.

The survey work was found to be satisfactory except in Maharashtra and Haryana, where this has been stopped in view of the forthcoming assembly elections, the ministry said.

The union territories of Chandigarh and Puducherry and the districts of Mehsana and Porbandar in Gujarat have covered all households with banking facilities under PMJDY, it added.

Reporting last month that many existing account holders have opened a new account to avail of incentives announced under the scheme, the finance ministry said it was publicising the fact that Jan Dhan benefits can be extended to existing account holders in their previous accounts as well, and a new account need not be opened for this.

The Jan Dhan Yojana was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August to bring 7.5 crore more families into the banking network by Jan 26, 2015.

--Indo-Asian News service

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