26% of Jan Dhan accounts with PSBs inactive as usage slows under PMJDY

As of September 2025, 142.8 million Jan Dhan accounts in public sector banks are inactive; officials say RuPay card issuance gap also persists at 31 per cent

The share of inoperative Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts in public-sector banks (PSBs) has risen to 26 per cent as of the end of September, up from 21 per cent a year ago, reflecting a further slowdown in account activity under the government’s flagship financial inclusion scheme, according to a senior government official.

 

“As of September 2025, of a total of 545.5 million PMJDY accounts in PSBs, around 142.8 million were inoperative. For 2025–26, the target for opening new PMJDY accounts in PSBs is 20 million, of which 13.2 million accounts (66 per cent) have been opened until September,” the official said.

 

Among large banks, Bank of India (33 per cent) and Union Bank of India (32 per cent) reported the highest share of inactive accounts, while Indian Overseas Bank (8 per cent) and Punjab & Sind Bank (9 per cent) had the lowest. The inoperative ratio rose notably for State Bank of India, from 19 per cent in September 2024 to 25 per cent in September 2025.

 

An email query sent to the finance ministry remained unanswered at the time of going to press.

 

According to Reserve Bank of India guidelines, a savings account is to be treated as inoperative or dormant if there are no transactions for over two years.

 

Earlier this year, Business Standard reported that PSBs closed roughly 1.5 million inoperative zero-balance PMJDY accounts in April as a one-time measure to weed out duplicate and non-functional accounts.

 

Launched in August 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, PMJDY aims to provide banking access to India’s vast unbanked population.

 

The official added that the gap between PMJDY accounts and RuPay card issuance under PSBs stood at 31 per cent as of September 2025. This means that of the total 545.5 million PMJDY accounts, only 375.3 million have been issued RuPay cards, while 170.2 million accounts are yet to receive them.

 

According to a finance ministry press statement issued in August, 67 per cent of total PMJDY accounts — including those opened by private banks — are in rural and semi-urban areas, and 56 per cent are held by women, reflecting deep penetration in underserved segments. Over 380 million RuPay debit cards have been issued under the scheme, each offering ₹2 lakh accident insurance cover. The average balance per Jan-Dhan account has increased 3.7 times over the past decade, reaching ₹4,768 as of August 2025.

 

A World Bank study, the Global Findex Report 2025, released in July, noted that 35 per cent of bank account holders in India were no longer using their accounts and had become inactive by 2021, citing Jan-Dhan accounts as a likely reason for the country’s high share of dormant accounts.

 

The report added that nearly half of respondents with inactive accounts in India cited distance from financial institutions, lack of trust, and no perceived need for an account as key reasons for inactivity.