Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana(PMJDY) is a National Mission for financial inclusion (financial services at affordable costs to sections of disadvantaged and low-income segments of society) which offers easy access to banking services such as Banking/ Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner to both urban and rural areas.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana(PMJDY) was launched by the Honourable PM Narender Modi on August 28, 2014. As of April 5, 2017, nearly people 28.23 Crore enrolled in PMJDY scheme.
Earlier Financial Inclusion plan (Swabhimaan) focused on coverage of villages which are above 2000 population whereas, under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), it is focusing on both rural and urban areas which in turn will tie every Indian whether from urban area or rural area to one systematic banking system.
Contents
Eligibility Criteria of opening a PMJDY account
Any individual who is above the age of 10 is eligible to open an account in PMJDY.
Aadhaar card holders (In case address has changed a self certification of current address is required). One who does not hold an Aadhaar Card / Aadhaar Number can submit the following documents:
- Voter ID Card
- Driving Licence
- PAN Card
- Passport
- NREGA Card (Job Card Number)
Process of Enrolling in PMJDY
Visit the bank or institution authorized by Government for the enrolling procedure. In the designated bank or institution there is a desk for PMJDY account, where an official sit to help enrolling known as Bank Mitra. The Bank Mitra will provide a form, which needs to be filled with correct details and submit it with required documents.
Benefits of PMJDY
Accidental Insurance Cover – Under PMJDY one is getting an accidental insurance cover along with a bank account. Usually people have to purchase insurance cover themselves, but under this scheme one gets it complementary. The scheme offers a life cover of Rs. 30,000 to customers who comply with certain norms of the scheme and offers Rs. 2,00,000 as insurance sum in the event of death due to accident.
Zero Balance Required – Usually opening a bank account, it is compulsory to maintain a minimum balance in the account. Moreover, in private banks to open an account the minimum balance is even higher. Whereas in PMJDY no such amount is required. It can be opened and maintain in 0 balance.
Direct Transfer of Subsidies – Earlier the subsidies were available under Government schemes like LPG Subsidies; under PMJDY one can receive the subsidy directly to their bank accounts.
Mobile Banking – Mobile banking came into existence much before and it is widely used by the customers from private and public banks. However, keeping the lower section in mind PMJDY offering mobile banking service via ordinary mobile phone unlike smart phones. This will ensure that even the rural and unorganized sector of the society can avail the benefits of convenient banking.
Overdraft Facility – One of the most beneficial facilities is overdraft facility (In this facility the account holder is allowed withdraw more than they have in their account, without exceeding a specified maximum negative balance). This facility is available after successful completion of 6 months of the PMJDY.
Loan Benefits – A person who successfully completed 6 months with PMJDY is eligible to avail a loan of up to Rs. 5000. The loan amount seems insignificant if compared to the other public and private banks, but keeping the weaker section in mind this loan is quite substantial to them.
Cheque Book Facility – The account holders will be provided with cheque books. [To acquire cheque book, a minimum balance is required]
Debit Card Facility – Under the scheme every account holder will get a RuPay Debit Card, to give people easy access to their money. This card is acceptable to all the ATMs and POS machines ( PoS stands for Point of Sale. PoS Machine is a small device installed at almost all Business Centres to facilitate cashless purchases to their customers) in the country. It also provides accidental insurance cover upto Rs.1.00 lac without any charge to the customer.
Pension Scheme – Holding a Jan Dhan account will provide an easy access to pension scheme which will help in old age income.
To know more about PMJDY please visit the official site at https://pmjdy.gov.in/
Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA)
BSBDA account also known as zero Savings Account defined under the Reserve Bank of India circular dated 10.8.2012.
Features of BSBDA Account are:
- It requires no minimum balance
- Services available under the accounts such as withdrawal and deposits from the branches or from the ATMs
- Maximum of 4 withdrawals are permitted in a month whereas, no such limitations on deposits
- ATM or Debit Cards facilities are available under this account
- No extra cost is required to avail the facilities.
In a Nutshell, The main objective of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is to ensure easy access to Financial Service in affordable manner to the economical section of the society. These are zero account balance which means no minimum amount is required to maintain. Except those who want to acquire cheque book, they have to maintain the minimum balance criteria.
Opening an account under PMJDY scheme will require few documents. Those who don’t possess all the documents can still open a small account. The validity of small accounts is normally for the period of 12 months.
A Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account or (BSBDA) are also known as Zero Account by the RBI, includes services such as deposit and withdrawal of cash.
Benefits under the Jan Dhan account is interest on deposits, insurance cover (1 lakh), life cover (30,000) subject to fulfillment of eligibility.
The account holders are eligible for Direct Subsidy Transfer under which the government transfers subsidies directly to the people.
An overdraft facility is also available after the successful completion of 6 months.
Rupay Debit Card introduced by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) is accepted in all the ATMs and POS machines in the country.