Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (Hindi: प्रधानमंत्री जन धन योजना, English: Prime Minister's People Money Scheme) is a scheme for comprehensive financial inclusion launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on 28 August 2014[1] He had announced this scheme on his first Independence Day speech on 15 August 2014

Run by Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, on the inauguration day, 1.5 Crore (15 million) bank accounts were opened under this scheme.[2][3] By 28 January 2015, 12.58 crore accounts were opened, with around INR10590 crore (US$1.7 billion) were deposited under the scheme,[4] which also has an option for opening new bank accounts with zero balance.

Purpose

In a run up to the formal launch of this scheme, the Prime Minister personally mailed to Chairmans of all PSU banks to gear up for the gigantic task of enrolling over 7.5 crore (75 million) households and to open their accounts.[5] In this email he categorically declared that a bank account for each household was a "national priority".

The scheme has been started with a target to provide 'universal access to banking facilities' starting with "Basic Banking Accounts" with overdraft facility of Rs.5000[6] after six months and RuPay Debit card with inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs. 1 lakh and RuPay Kisan Card. In next phase, micro insurance & pension etc. will also be added.[1]

Under the scheme:

1. Account holders will be provided zero-balance bank account with RuPay debit card, in addition to accidental insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh(to be given by 'HDFC Ergo').

2. Those who open accounts by January 26, 2015 over and above the 1 lakh ₹ accident, they will be given life insurance cover of ₹ 30,000(to be given by LIC).

3. After Six months of opening of the bank account, holders can avail 5,000 ₹ overdraft from the bank.

4. With the introduction of new technology introduced by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a person can transfer funds, check balance through a normal phone which was earlier limited only to smart phones so far.

5. Mobile banking for the poor would be available through National Unified USSD Platform (NUUP) for which all banks and mobile companies have come together[7]

Performance

Due to the preparations done in the run-up, as mentioned above, on the inauguration day, 1.5 Crore (15 million) bank accounts were opened.[2] The Prime Minister said on this occasion- "Let us celebrate today as the day of financial freedom." By September 2014, 3.02 crore accounts were opened under the scheme, amongst Public sector banks, SBI had opened 30 lakh (3 million) accounts, followed by Punjab National Bank with 20.24 lakh (2 million) accounts, Canara Bank 16.21 lakh (1.62 million) accounts, Central Bank of India 15.98 lakh (1.59 million) accounts and Bank of Baroda with 14.22 lakh (1.42 million) accounts.[8] It was reported that total of 7 Crore (70 million) bank accounts have been opened with deposits totaling more than 5000 crore Rupees (approx 1 billion USD) as of November 6, 2014. As the government met the target, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has revised the target for opening of bank accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the ambitious financial inclusion scheme launched by the government, from 7.5 crore to 10 crore by January 26, 2015.[9] [10] On 20th January 2015, the scheme entered into Guinness book of world records setting new record for 'The most bank accounts opened in one week'.[11]

Criticism

The scheme has been criticized by many experts from the banking sector as an effort to please voters that has created unnecessary work-burden on the public-sector banks.[12][13] The opposition party Congress alleged that Mr Modi was trying to take credit of the financial inclusion scheme started by UPA government and the new yojana had got nothing new.[14][15]According to the experts, temptations presented by the Prime Minister like zero balance, free insurance and overdraft facility would result in duplication. Many individuals who already have bank accounts may have had accounts created for themselves, lured by the insurance covers and overdraft facilities.[16] As per the scheme, a very few people are eligible to get the life insurance worth ₹30,000 with a validity of just five years.[17] However, these 'secret' conditions were not shown in the TV advertisements of the scheme.[18] The claimed overdraft facility has been completely left upon the banks. As per the government notice, only those people would get the overdraft facility whose transaction record is satisfactory as per the banks.[19] It is quite unlikely that many people would get this facility as the banks would avoid potential NPAs.[16] The claimed accidental insurance has also proved to be a non-existing scheme as the Rupay card holders have got no legal paper for any such accidental insurance.[16][20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Prime Minister to Launch Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana Tomorrow". Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 ET Bureau (28 August 2014). "PM 'Jan Dhan' Yojana launched; aims to open 1.5 crore bank accounts on first day". The Economic Times. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  3. ↑ "Modi: Banking for all to end "financial untouchability"". Reuters. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  4. ↑ http://www.pmjdy.gov.in/account-statistics-country.aspx
  5. ↑ "PM's email to all bank officers". Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  6. ↑ JanDhanYojana.Net (28 August 2014). "PM 'Jan Dhan' Yojana". JanDhanYojana.Net. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  7. ↑ pavan1804 (25 November 2014). "PM 'Jan Dhan' Yojana". pmjandhanyojana.co.in. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "SBI takes lead in opening bank accounts under Jan Dhan Yojana". The Economic Times. 11 Sep 2014. Retrieved 2014-09-30.
  9. ↑ http://trak.in/tags/business/2014/11/06/pm-jan-dhan-yojana-success/
  10. ↑ http://netindian.in/news/2014/11/27/00031611/target-bank-accounts-under-pmjdy-raised-10-crore-january-26-2015
  11. ↑ http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2015/1/india-makes-financial-world-record-as-millions-open-new-bank-accounts
  12. ↑ http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/9huedGeHxU770Gq7vvi13M/Jan-Dhan-Yojana-populism-gone-berserk.html
  13. ↑ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Jan-Dhan-Yojana-didnt-add-to-PSU-banks-profits-Union/articleshow/46081367.cms
  14. ↑ http://aninews.in/newsdetail2/story186384/-039-bharatiya-jhoot-party-039-taking-credit-for-upa-039-s-schemes-alleges-singhvi.html
  15. ↑ http://www.sify.com/finance/is-there-anything-new-at-all-in-pm-modi-s-much-touted-jan-dhan-yojana-imagegallery-2-economy-ojdrb9cdgjdci.html
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/critics-attack-wasteful-ineffective-pm-jan-dhan-yojana_1169557.html?utm_source=ref_article
  17. ↑ http://www.licindia.in/pages/PMJDY_Guidelines&Features.pdf
  18. ↑ Jan Dhan yojana TV advertisement
  19. ↑ http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=109735
  20. ↑ http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-11-10/news/55956080_1_in-built-rs-mantri-jan-dhan-yojana-aadhar-linked-accounts

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