Launched 10 years ago today, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has revolutionised India’s financial services and banking ecosystem. Prime Minister Modi’s vision for providing banking access to every citizen has fundamentally transformed how Indians from diverse backgrounds access the financial system.
Over the past decade, the Jan Dhan Yojana has facilitated over 52.8 crore new bank accounts with cumulative deposits exceeding Rs 2.3 lakh crore. Almost 55.5% of these accounts are owned by women, and 66.6% accounts were opened in rural and semi-urban areas.
A foundational pillar of the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile trinity, universal banking access has also allowed the government to instantly deliver its welfare schemes to crores of Indian citizens with unprecedented reliability, convenience and security. While previously welfare schemes were characterised by significant leakages and delays caused by middlemen, the new Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) platform, anchored on PMJDY’s success, has enabled greater transparency and efficiency. As a result, in the past decade, citizens have received `34 lakh crore via DBT to their Jan Dhan accounts, enabling significant savings for the public exchequer.
These PMJDY bank accounts have also empowered poor, and previously unbanked, citizens to access other financial products such as insurance under the PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and PM Suraksha Bima Yojana, and formal credit under the PM Mudra Yojana. This expanded access to banking services has not only integrated millions into the formal economy and made financial products accessible universally, but also has instilled a sense of financial freedom, and pride among citizens.
India’s successes are marked by a comprehensive multi-layered approach to enhancing financial literacy and equitable access to financial services, including ongoing investments in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Forward-looking policies, such as the Reserve Bank of India allowing Aadhaar to serve as a valid proof of identity and address to open zero-balance basic savings accounts, have enabled a monumental change in India’s financial inclusion revolution.
The rapid launch and national expansion of global-first DPIs like the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the Bharat Bill Payment System and Aadhaar-enabled Payment Systems by RBI and NPCI has enabled all Indians to send, spend, manage, and grow their money.
The access to bank accounts through the Jan Dhan Yojana is one of the key enablers of population-scale adoption of UPI, which in July 2024 processed 14.44 billion transactions worth Rs 20.64 lakh crore.
As an increasing number of merchants begin to accept digital payments, it will unlock significant growth in access to credit for consumers and merchants. The prevalence of Jan Dhan accounts, connected digitally by UPI rails, has started a virtuous cycle of creating digital footprints at population scale, with reliable data on revenue and expenditure for creditors to process credit for individual consumers and merchants.
India’s rapid digital and financial transformation is a testament to how technology-savvy governments and regulators can jointly unlock unimaginable opportunities for over a billion people. The next decade of India’s fintech revolution promises transformative shifts in access to credit, insurance and wealth management, particularly for the country’s poor, women, youth and farmers. And today is a day to celebrate the original PMJDY spark that lit up our collective belief of becoming a Viksit Bharat by 2047.