NEW DELHI: As the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana completes seven years, it has been able to connect 43.04 crore of underprivileged persons to the banking system with their total deposits soaring to Rs 1.46 lakh crore, the finance ministry said on Saturday.
“The journey of PMJDY led interventions undertaken over a short span of 7 years has in effect, produced both transformational as well as directional change thereby making the emerging FI ecosystem capable of delivering financial services to the last person of the society--the poorest of the poor,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Calling the scheme a huge success, Sitharaman said that the PMJDY accounts have grown three-fold from Rs 14.72 crore in March 15 to Rs 43.04 crore as on August 18 this year.
According to the finance ministry, women were major beneficiaries of the scheme as 55% Jan-Dhan account holders belong to this category and 67% Jan Dhan accounts are in rural and semi-urban areas.
Under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, a total of Rs 30,945 crore have been credited in accounts of women PMJDY account holders during Covid lockdown, while about 5.1 crore PMJDY account holders receive direct benefit transfer (DBT) from the government under various schemes.
Also, 31.23 crore RuPay cards issued to PMJDY account holders.