BENGALURU:As many as 58.37 lakh savings bank accounts have been opened in the state under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.
K Preetam Lal, general manager of Syndicate Bank, the nodal bank that oversaw the implementation of the scheme, said of the newly-opened accounts, 36.03 lakh have zero balance while around 22.3 lakh have together Rs 328.93 crore.
Lal said banks conducted a door-to-door survey of 132.04 lakh households across the state, and opened accounts for those with none. In this way, 129.89 lakh households, which account for 98.37 per cent of the state’s population, now have a minimum of one account. Lal said banks have also issued 39.75 lakh RuPay debit cards with an accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. In addition, life insurance of Rs 30,000 is provided to accounts opened under this scheme. Aadhaar-enabled account holders are entitled to overdraft facility up to Rs 5,000 after satisfactory operation for six months, he said. Lal said 33.22 lakh accounts have been opened through Aadhaar seeding. And, 34.59 lakh accounts have been opened in rural areas and the remaining in urban areas.
A toll free number (180042597777) has been set up to address queries regarding the scheme, he said.
Lal said, “In order to create financial awareness, all banks have been advised to establish financial literacy centres in their allotted blocks.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the scheme to include the poor in the banking system by January 26 in August last year.