Dutch Queen Maxima calls for efforts to up bank account usage

Queen Maxima of The Netherlands, the UN Secretary General's special advocate for inclusive finance, today said India needs to do more to increase use of bank accounts and bridge gender gap.

"Even though the figures of access have been very, very good, 48 per cent of the (Jan Dhan) accounts are not being used," Queen Maxima told reporters here today.

She said the rollout of the ambitious scheme, which has ensured that 80 per cent of Indians now have bank accounts and has got women to open bank accounts as well, has not led to usage among the women.

"The more digital we get, the more divide we have," she said, adding that rural poor and farmers also seem to be left out when going through the usage data.

She said there are "low hanging fruit" in the digitisation journey like farmers and labourers who need to be shifted away from using cash.

Queen Maxima said despite having a mobile phone and bank account, 50 million farmers get their agri income in cash, 70 million people get wages in cash and 120 million pay utility bills in cash.

She said women have a different set of issues which start with accessibility, convenience and product designs which need to be changed and recounted meeting a woman who said she has to travel three hours to get access to her bank.

The visiting royal also pitched for a better compensation to the business correspondents if the issue of usability were to go up.

Lauding the country's efforts on the access front, where the PMJDY has helped get millions of more people into the banking fold, Queen Maxima said India now needs to pass the know-how and learnings to other countries grappling with the same problem of financial exclusion.

When asked about concerns on privacy, she seemed to hint that biometric data will have to be used in order to extend the reach but stressed that it has to be done in the right way.

"(We need) a good balance between keeping privacy and having the ability to have access to services. Its a very difficult balance to reach and the political system should find the right balance in a country. Technologically, everything is there to do it properly," she said.

Queen Maxima said a slew of other bodies, including the World Bank are depending on biometrics to create IDs for all, which a key feature in ensuring compliance with the know you customer (KYC) requirements.