PSBs Shut 1.5 Mn Inoperative Jan Dhan Accounts in One-Time Exercise in April

Public-sector banks (PSBs) closed approximately 1.5 million inoperative zero-balance accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in April this year as a one-time measure.

- HARSH KUMAR

The step was taken to weed out duplicate and non-functional accounts, according to a senior government official.

The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2014 as a financial inclusion programme to provide access to banking services to a vast unbanked population.

Of 560.3 million PMJDY accounts at the end of July, 130.4 million (23 per cent) were inoperative ones, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of inoperative Jan Dhan accounts at 27.5 million, followed by Bihar at 13.9 million and Madhya Pradesh at 10.7 million, Chaudhary said.