New Delhi: The government plans a mega launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 28, which is likely to see opening of one crore bank accounts on the first day itself.
As many as 76 mega functions are being organised at different places to mark the launch of the scheme, under which the new account holders will be provided RuPay debit cards with an inbuilt insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh.
The Prime Minister has already sent 7.25 lakh emails to bank officers informing them about the financial inclusion scheme PMJDY, which he had announced in his Independence Day address to the nation. Public sector banks, according to an official release, will organise more than 60,000 camps in rural and urban areas on the launch day.
The mega functions to be organised by state capitals and major district headquarters will be attended by Union Ministers and state Chief Ministers. The PMJDY has been conceived as a national mission on financial inclusion with the objective of covering all households in the country with banking facilities and having a bank account for each household.
“All the banks have started preparatory work and the mega camp will be held on August 28,” Financial Services Secretary G S Sandhu said. The scheme, pushed by the government in a mission mode, seeks to provide two accounts to 7.5 crore identified households by August 2018.
The programme assumes importance as 42 per cent of the population is still out of the formal banking system, and has to depend on money lenders for meeting their credit needs.
The present banking network of the country comprises of a bank branch network of 1,15,082 and an ATM network of 1,60,055. Of these, 43,962 branches (38.2 per cent) and 23,334 ATMs (14.58 per cent) are in rural areas. BLUR_B
Bureau Report
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