Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that 80 per cent of the 240 million new accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana are now functional with cash balances.
“Today, we have been able to connect 240 million people additionally to the banking system. About 80 per cent of them are today functional with cash balances,” Jaitley said at a panel discussion on ‘Financial Inclusion not Exclusion: Managing De-Risking’ here on Saturday.
“Eighty per cent of these accounts didn't have money, in the first instance. So all Government programmes -- from central to regional to local bodies which give assistance to the weaker sections -- now transfer payments in these accounts. The payments come from schemes like rural employment guarantee scheme and subsidies on fuel, food and ferlilisers,” he added. Talking about the Jan Dhan programme, he said the government undertook it with a mission mode. The entire banking system, including Government banks, coordinated and we were able to bridge the gap substantially in 100 days, he said.
On another important Government initiative of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Finance Minister said it has been able to cover a billion people in India, that is, 98 per cent of the adult population. The biometric identity (Aadhar) helps the government to identify people who are entitled to state support and exclude those who are not, he added.
“Collectively we have been able to bring a lot of people under financial inclusion, but it is still a work in progress,” Jaitley said. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim lauded India’s efforts on financial inclusion and UIDAI.