All About Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
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Even after 60 years of independence, a large proportion of the population was underbanked. The central government took the initiative to spread financial inclusion through Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. With the help of this account, individuals can open basic savings account, a zero balance account, with minimal documentation.
‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna’, a comprehensive scheme for financial inclusion was launched by honorable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on August 15th, 2014. The scheme was formally launched to provide Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA) with an overdraft facility of Rs 5,000 for six months and RuPay Debit Card along with accident insurance cover of Rs. 1 Lakh.
PMJDY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna) was also aimed to receive all government benefits to the beneficiary account. Under PMJDY, individuals could access the account through internet banking and withdraw cash through ATMs.
As per census conducted in 2011, only 145 million households or 3/5th of the total number of households in India had a bank account. Nearly 105 million households did not have access to basic banking.
To open a zero balance Jan Dhan account, here are the prerequisites:
Individuals need to provide any of these following documents
If you don’t have any of these documents, you can still open a ‘small account’ with any bank. You need to submit a self-attested photo and your biometrics.
Savings account with most of the public and private sector banks have a minimum balance requirement. This requirement is higher in private sector banks. Accounts opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna are zero balance accounts that means it does not have any minimum balance requirement.
Every account opened under PMJDY gets an inbuilt life insurance cover up to Rs 30,000. This amount may be significant for poorer sections or for 1st generation earners.
Individual who has subscribed to subsidies under schemes of the central and the state government like LPG subsidy will now get it directly in their bank accounts. This would ensure greater transparency.
Account holders who linked their Aadhaar cards to their Jan Dhan accounts will get an overdraft facility of Rs 5,000. This facility is available after 6 months of account opening
Once you have opened a PMJDY account, you can access other retail products such as recurring deposit, fixed deposits offered by your banks.
It is possible to transfer money using any phone from a Jan Dhan account to any other account. This is a big relief for people as now there is no need to stand in long queues just to transfer money.
Government started PMJDY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna), a financial inclusion program to ensure each and every household gets access to basic banking facilities and products. Individuals can open BSBD account or basic savings account through various private and public banks.
A Jan Dhan account gives an insurance cover, overdraft facility, and Rupay debit card. In fact, the union government claims to have opened accounts at a great pace making financial inclusion a big success.
