Banks have opened 19.21 crore accounts under the government's ambitious financial inclusion scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana with deposit of more than Rs 26,819 crore, the finance ministry has said. In a statement on Tuesday, the ministry said RuPay cards have been issued to 16.51 crore customers and that two lakh accounts are opened every day.
The Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), which also entails a life insurance cover of Rs 30,000 and an accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh, has benefited several subscribers as 1,336 claims of life cover and 333 claims of accident insurance cover have been paid till November 2015.
The ministry statement also noted that zero balance accounts in PMJDY have declined from 76 per cent in September 2014 to 36.5 per cent in November 2015.
"Till June 2015, more than Rs 4,273 crore have been routed through these accounts towards payment of wages under MNREGA and transfer of cooking gas subsidy amounting to Rs 17,446 crore has been done through Jan Dhan accounts till July 2015," the finance ministry said.
The ministry said that under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), banks have disbursedRs 45,948.28 crore as on November 2015 which has benefited 66 lakh borrowers.
The government has set a target of Rs 1.22 lakh crore for loans to be given by banks to promote new entrepreneurs under PMMY which will seek to "fund the unfunded". The government last year launched three social security programmes - the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana na (PMJJBY) and the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) - to bring the excluded under the fold of formal financial services.
"As on November 2015, the gross enrolment under PMSBY is 9.16 crore, while that under PMJJBY is 2.86 crore," the finance ministry said, adding that 10.35 lakh subscribers have enrolled in the pension scheme.
PMJJBY is a one-year renewable life insurance scheme offering coverage of Rs 2 lakh for death due to any reason and is available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 years, while PMSBY is a similar personal accident insurance scheme offering Rs 2 lakh for death or permanent total disability and Rs 1 lakh for permanent partial disability due to accident.