Jan Dhan benefits for existing bank account holders too

The Finance Ministry has clarified that those who already have a bank account do not need to open a fresh account under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) to get the scheme’s benefits.

The benefits include an insurance cover of ₹1 lakh and life insurance cover of ₹30,000.

“Because of the incentives announced, many existing account holders have also opened new accounts under PMJDY. The benefits announced under PMJDY can be extended to existing account holders … and a new account need not be opened for this,” a Finance Ministry statement said.

The Jan Dhan Yojana is the NDA government’s new scheme for financial inclusion, launched on August 28. It aims to open 7.5 crore bank accounts by January 26, 2015.

The Union Cabinet, in its meeting on September 10, reviewed the current progress of the scheme.

As on September 8, a total of 3.02 crore accounts had been opened — of which 1.89 crore are in rural areas and 1.13 crore in urban areas.

Banks have also been instructed to organise special camps every Saturday between 8 am-8pm to facilitate the opening of new bank accounts.

However, there has been slow progress on issuance of RuPay debit cards.

As against 3.02 crore accounts opened, banks have been able to issue only 33.6 lakh cards. The backlog is expected to be cleared in the next four weeks.

The statement also said that a draft scheme for life insurance of ₹30,000 announced by the Prime Minister during the launch has been worked out.

An incentive scheme for bankers and district collectors is also under preparation.

Meanwhile, new accounts have given a good amount of cheaper deposits to banks. The statement said that banks have collected deposits of ₹1,496.51 crore (₹495 per account) under the scheme, so far. At the same time, the new mobile banking facility on any kind of handset (not necessarily smartphones) is also getting popular with around 400 transactions taking place every day.

Now, to make the scheme effective, the Centre has initiated a survey to identify un-banked households, by October 15.