Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has revised upwards the target for opening of Jan Dhan accounts to 10 crore accounts by January 26 next year. The earlier target was pegged at 7.5 crore accounts.
The revised target would mean that one account will be opened for each household in the country, said an official release.
The Finance Minister has also told his officers that Aadhaar card numbers may also be seeded with the bank accounts.
This will help in directly transferring subsidies to the desired sections of society under the direct benefit transfer scheme, Jaitley said.
Jaitley was speaking while chairing the meeting of the Mission of Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in the Capital.
Till November 18, the number of PMJDY accounts opened stood at 7.64 crore.
Of the total 7.64 crore accounts, public sector banks had opened 6.15 crore accounts, regional rural banks (RRBs) had opened 1.28 crore accounts and private sector banks had opened 0.20 crore accounts.
Jaitley sought the private sector banks' active participation under the PMJDY.
So far, the total deposits mobilised under the 7.64 crore accounts stood at Rs 6,015 crore.
Of the 7.64 crore accounts, as many as 5.74 crore accounts were with 'zero-balance'.
Jaitley urged the bankers to make efforts to raise the deposit level in the zero-balance accounts through a financial literacy programme.
He stressed on the need to ensure transactions in these zero-balance accounts.
Jaitley wanted the dovetailing of various central and State government schemes in the PMJDY scheme, stating that this would
help increase transaction deposits in these accounts.
The Finance Minister also urged bankers to ensure availability and activation of RuPay cards issued under PMJDY.