Banks, especially public sector and regional rural banks, are going all out to open accounts for individuals from low-income segments.

Under the Prime Minister Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), which was launched on August 28, banks collectively opened a whopping 6.51 crore basic savings bank deposit accounts (BSBDA) in just two months.

Going by the blistering pace at which banks are opening accounts, in all probability, they will surpass the target of reaching 7.5 crore un-banked families by January 26, 2015.

Of the 6.51 crore new accounts that have been opened so far, 4.95 crore are with zero balance, as per data submitted by banks to the Finance Ministry.

Banks mobilised deposits aggregating ₹4,857 crore from the remaining 1.56 crore new accounts. What this means is that new customers, on average, deposited ₹3,113 per account.

Public sector banks and regional rural banks accounted for 81 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, of the total accounts opened under PMJDY. The response of private sector banks to the Yojana has been lukewarm.

While banks went all out to open the accounts, they could not issue “RuPay” debit cards to almost half of the new customers.

RuPay cards

“With banks aggressively taking up the task of opening accounts under the PMJDY, supply of RuPay cards lagged demand. However, steps have been taken to augment the supply of cards.

“By December 15, all customers who opened accounts under the PMJDY will receive the cards,” said a senior public sector bank official. PMJDY is a National Mission for Financial Inclusion. It seeks to ensure access to financial services, namely, banking/savings and deposit accounts, remittance, credit, insurance and pension in an affordable manner.

RuPay debit card is the home-grown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India to rival global payment processing giants Visa and MasterCard.

Under PMJDY, the debit cards comes with ₹1 lakh accident insurance cover, and an additional ₹30,000 life insurance cover for those opening bank accounts before January 26, 2015.

The performance of the BSBDA is monitored and overdraft facility of up to ₹5,000 is given in a phased manner.

To remain eligible for the ₹1 lakh accident insurance cover that comes with the BSBDA, the RuPay cards have to be used at least once in 45 days.

At a recent meeting, Finance Ministry mandarins told top bankers that mere issuance of cards will not suffice.

The cards have to be activated at the earliest and made operational.

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