Over 40 cr bank accounts opened under PMJDY

New Delhi

Six years after the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), there are over 40 crore beneficiaries of the scheme, according to government data.

The financial inclusion programme launched in 2014 has a total of 40.05 crore accounts under it as of July 22 with total deposits of over Rs 1.30 lakh crore, according to the PMJDY website.

In a tweet on Monday, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) said: "Another milestone achieved under world's largest financial inclusion initiative, PMJDY: Total accounts opened under the scheme crosses 40 Cr mark. Committed to take financial inclusion to the last mile!"

The scheme was launched initially for a four-year period under the National Mission for Financial Inclusion on August 28, 2014. It envisages universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account for every household, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension.

The government, however, later decided to extend the comprehensive programme beyond 2018 with the change in focus on opening accounts from "every household" to "every adult".

The 'Over Draft' (OD) limit of Rs 5,000 was revised to Rs 10,000 and no conditions were attached for active PMJDY accounts availing OD of up to Rs 2,000.

The age limit for availing OD facility was also revised from 18-60 years to 18-65 years and the accidental insurance cover for new RuPay card holders was raised from existing Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh for new PMJDY accounts opened after August 28, 2018.