The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has revised the target for opening of accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) from 75 million to 100 million by Jan. 26, 2015. This will amount to opening of one account for each household in the country.
The Finance Minister also asked the officers that Aadhar card numbers may also be seeded with bank accounts as the same will help in directly transferring the subsidies to the bank accounts of the desired sections of the society under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.
It was informed that 76.4 million bank accounts have been already opened under PMJDY till Nov. 18, 2014, out of which Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have opened 61.5 million accounts, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) have opened 12.8 million accounts and private sector banks have opened 2 million accounts.
The Finance Minister Jaitley called for more active participation by the private sector banks under PMJDY.
In terms of deposits, Rs 60.15 billion has been collected upto Nov. 18, 2014. However, the growth has moderated after Sept. 30, 2014. Out of 76.4 million accounts opened till Nov. 18, 2014, 57.4 million accounts opened are zero balance accounts.
The Finance Minister Jaitley asked the bankers that efforts be made to raise the deposit level in the zero balance accounts through financial literacy program.