Financial Inclusion is one of the top most priorities of the Government. Exclusion of a large number of people from any access to financial services inhibits the growth of our country. There is evidence that financial inclusion is crucial to poverty reduction.

The earlier campaign on financial inclusion started in 2011 had a limited objective. The focus was on the coverage of villages with population of 2000 or more with banking services. Coverage of individual households with bank accounts was not the focus. Out of the 5.92 lakh villages in the country, only 74000 villages could be covered.

The Prime Minister launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojana at a National level function here today. Besides the launch function at Delhi, simultaneous launch functions of the Yojana were also held in the Capital and other major centres of the State and at all district Headquarters.

The Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Finance Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Shri Nripendra Misra, Cabinet Secretary Shri Ajit Seth, Governor, RBI Dr Raghuram Rajan and other senior dignitaries were present on the occasion.

The Prime Minister said that the target to cover 7.50 crore households with at least one account under the Yojana will be achieved by 26^th January, 2015.         Elaborating the benefits under PMJDY, the Prime Minister said this was not a mere bank account, but had other benefits including an RuPay debit card, Rs 1 lakh accident insurance cover, and an additional Rs. 30,000/- life insurance cover for those opening bank accounts before January 26th, 2015. Speaking on the occasion, the Finance Minister said that efforts will be made to ensure that no household is left without a bank account.

                       A competition was also held earlier through the MyGov Platform for suggesting the name, logo and tagline for the Comprehensive Financial Inclusion Programme.  More than 6000 entries were received.  The following has since been finalised:

a)      Name: Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana

b)      Tagline: ‘Mera Khata Bhagya Vidhata’

                          While the logo and name finalised are based on entries received the tag line was not suggested by any participant. Since the final design was not based on a single entry, it was decided to split the prize money in half, with one half going for the Logo and the other half for the name of the scheme.  The final result of the competition is as follows:

(i)            Ms. Priya Sharma based on whose entry the logo was finalised would be awarded Rs. 25,000

(ii)          The following participants who proposed “Jan Dhan” would share the other half of the prize rounded up to Rs. 10,000 each:      

              The above participants received their award from the Prime Minister in this function today.  To recognise the contribution of other participants whose entries were similar/partially matching 11 certificates would be awarded later. Earlier a film on financial inclusion was also screened on this occasion.

About 1.5 crore accounts are expected to be opened on the day of the launch and 77,892 camps are being organized for this purpose. Preparatory work was started from 16/08/2014 and stepped-up from 25/08/2014.

Banks have been asked to organize mega account opening camps on the day of the launch and thereafter at each rural and urban branch in the district in coordination with District Authorities for opening of bank accounts. Every Saturday has been fixed for special campaign from 8.00 AM to 8.00 PM.

The major shift in this programme is that households are being targeted instead of only villages as targeted earlier. Moreover both rural and urban areas are being covered this time as against only rural areas targeted earlier. The      present plan pursues digital financial inclusion with special emphasis on monitoring by a Mission headed by the Finance Minister.

Financial literacy has been accorded high priority under the Yojana. A standardized Financial Literacy material has been prepared in vernacular languages to create awareness about the Yojana.

A platform has been built by National Payment Corporation of India   (NPCI) that connects all the banks and all the telephone network operators in the country. The platform helps a customer or any bank to access his/ her account with any type of mobile handset. Costly smart phone is not necessary. Even with an ordinary handset, services like balance enquiry and money transfer is possible. The business correspondent of banks can also use the services to support cash deposit and cash withdrawal. 26 Public Sector Banks and 3 Private Sector Banks have joined this platform. Other would also join soon. Full range of banking services would now be possible thorough ordinary mobile phones.

The Yojana will be implemented in two phases:- 

Phase-I from 15^th August 2014:

·         Universal access to banking facilities for all households across the country through a bank branch or a fixed point Business Correspondent (BC) called Bank Mitra within a reasonable distance except areas with infrastructure & connectivity constraints.

·         To cover all households with atleast one Basic Banking Account with RuPay Debit card having inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs.1 lakh. Further an overdraft facility upto Rs.5000 will also be permitted to Adhaar enabled accounts after satisfactory operation in the account for 6 months.

·         Financial literacy programme which aims to take financial literacy upto village level.

·         The Mission also envisages expansion of Direct Benefit Transfer under various Government Schemes through bank accounts of the beneficiaries of.

·         The issuance of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) as RuPay Kisan Card is also proposed to be covered under the plan.

Phase-II :

·         Providing micro –insurance to the people.

·         Unorganised sector Pension schemes like Swavalamban through the Business Correspondents.

The Yojana is being monitored in a Mission Mode with the Finance Minister being the Head of the Mission.

It is estimated to cover 7.50 crore households with at least one account under the Yojana and also a large number of dormant accounts would be activated

Electronic Transfer of subsidies under various schemes of Government would be enabled.

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DSM/KA