The Centre’s flagship scheme for financial inclusion Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) has completed 8 years, providing bank accounts to 46.25 crore beneficiaries, as per the Ministry of Finance.

“Financial inclusion is a major step towards inclusive growth which ensures overall economic development of marginalised sections of society,” said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the eighth anniversary of PMJDY.

Bank accounts under the scheme have grown three times from 14.72 crore in March 2015 to 46.25 core as of August 10, 2022, a ministry statement added.

“The success of the PMJDY since August 28, 2014 is reflected in terms of opening of over 46 crore bank accounts with deposit balance of Rs 1.74 lakh crore with its expanded coverage to 67% rural or semi-urban areas as well as 56% of women Jan Dhan account holders,” FM Sitharaman further added.

There has been a shift in focus from “every household’ to “every adult”, with added emphasis on usage of accounts by enhancing Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) flows through these accounts, promoting digital payments through the use of RuPay cards, etc, she further said.

According to Sitharaman, the JAM pipeline created through account holders’ consent-based linking of bank accounts with Aadhar and mobile numbers of the account holders, which is one of the important pillars of FI ecosystem, has enabled instant DBT under various government welfare schemes to the eligible beneficiaries. The advantage of the architecture created under FI ecosystem came handy during the Covid-19 pandemic when it facilitated direct income support to farmers under PM-KISAN and transfer of ex-gratia payment to women PMJDY account holders under PMGKP in a seamless and time-bound manner.