113.7 million out of 541.3 million PM Jan Dhan Yojana accounts suspended: Finance Ministry

Nearly a fifth of all accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana remain inactive and more than half of them had a balance of less than Rs 1,000.

Of the total 541.3 million accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), 113.7 million accounts are non-functional, as on December 4, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. He also said that there were 336.8 million PMJDY accounts with a balance of less than Rs 1,000, as of October 30.

The minister was responding to a question about non-functioning accounts under PMJDY.

Launched in August 2014, this program is a pioneering initiative of the government that aims to provide comprehensive banking services to every unbanked household. “PMJDY account is a type of basic bank deposit account for savings,” Chaudhary said.

Meanwhile, in response to another question, the Transport Ministry informed Rajya Sabha that Rs 85,718.14 crore has been approved and Rs 60,120.76 crore has been released to states under the Special Assistance to States Capital Investment Scheme 2024-25. Under this scheme, the central government provided interest-free loan for 50 years to the states.

States received Rs 1.10 lakh crore in FY24 under the scheme and Rs 81,195.35 lakh crore in FY23. Meanwhile, Rs 14,185.78 crore was released to states in FY22 and Rs 11,830.29 crore in FY21.

“In October 2020, the Union government came out with a ‘Scheme of Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure’ keeping in mind the difficult financial environment faced by state governments due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He further said that special assistance (loan) has been provided to help states in strengthening Capital expenditure and enhancing the productive capacity of the economy at a time of risk aversion.