A survey by banks has found that 80 per cent of households have at least one bank account. This shows improvement over census 2011 data which said nearly 6 out of 10 households have access to banking service.

This happened mainly due to Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) which was reviewed by newly appointed Financial Service Secretary Hasmukh Adhia this week. The meeting reported that 83 per cent of a survey to identify unbanked households has been competed. As per the initial results, on an average about 80 per cent of the households surveyed have now got at least one bank account. Now banks have been asked to complete the remaining work by November 30.

Census 2011 estimated that out of 24.67 crore households in the country, 14.48 crore (58.69%) households had access to banking services. After launch of PMJDY, banks were asked to conduct survey for identification of uncovered households.

The meeting was attended by State Level Banking Committees (SLBC) Conveners of all the States. It was reported that Kerala became the first state on November 11 to have all the households in the state with at least one bank account. In addition, Goa, Union Territories of Chandigarh, Puducherry and Lakshadweep and three districts of Gujarat – Porbandar, Mehasana, Gandhi Nagar, have also covered all households under PMJDY with at least one bank account.

Latest data revealed that a total of 7.24 crore bank accounts have been opened under the scheme. These comprise 4.29 crore in rural area and 2.95 crore are in urban areas. RuPay Cards have been issued in case of 3.97 crore accounts. The scheme has a target of opening 7.5 crore bank account by January 26 next year, but it appears the target will be achieved at least two months in advance. The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has already said that target will be revised to 10 crore.

Department of Financial Services is regularly emphasising the early issuance of RuPay Debit Cards, e-KYC based account opening, seeding of Aadhaar, Financial Literacy and the progress in Survey made.

In order to record the appreciation of banks, the Government has framed a scheme of rewards for the bankers. This has already been communicated to them, a statement issued by the Finance Ministry said. Now banks have been asked to be in preparedness for modified Direct Benefit Transfer for kitchen fuel LPG proposed to be launched on November 15 in 54 districts and from January 1 in remaining parts of the country.

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