Union Bank of India has so far opened 18.40 lakh basic savings bank deposit accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), according to Chairman & Managing Director Arun Tiwari.
The PMJDY, which kicked off on August 15, is a national mission for financial inclusion to ensure that the weaker sections have access to financial services — banking/ savings & deposit accounts, remittance, credit, insurance, pension in an affordable manner.
“On an average we have mobilised deposits amounting to about Rs 950 in each of these accounts opened under PMJDY…
“People are realising the importance of saving money in a bank and earning interest,” said Tiwari on the sidelines of a press meet to announce the launch of the bill payment service through the any bank mobile banking application for MTNL subscribers.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that Union Bank would have mobilised about Rs 175 crore by way of deposits under the PMJDY.
PMJDY focuses on coverage of households as against the earlier financial inclusion plan (FIP) which focused on coverage of villages. It focuses on coverage of rural as well as urban areas.
The earlier FIP only targeted villages with a population of over 2,000, while under PMJDY the whole country is to be covered by extending banking facilities in each sub-service area consisting of 1,000–1,500 households, such that the facility is available to all within a reasonable distance, say about 5 km.