Jan Dhan Yojana
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is India's flagship financial inclusion programme launched on August 28, 2014, aimed at providing universal access to banking services including a savings account, RuPay debit card, accidental insurance cover, and an overdraft facility to unbanked households. It was the world's largest financial inclusion initiative at launch.
Jan Dhan Yojana was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day 2014 and formally launched nine days later. The scheme's core promise was a zero-balance savings account accessible at any bank branch or Business Correspondent (BC) outlet, eliminating the minimum balance barrier that had historically excluded millions from formal banking. Each account came with a RuPay debit card, an accidental insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh (later enhanced to Rs 2 lakh for new accounts opened after August 28, 2018), and a Rs 10,000 overdraft facility for accounts with satisfactory six-month transaction history.
The scale of the programme's rollout was unprecedented. On the first day alone, around 1.5 crore accounts were opened across India's bank branches and Business Correspondent networks — a world record certified by the Guinness Book. Public sector banks, particularly State Bank of India, led the account-opening drive, while rural banking correspondents extended the reach to remote villages. By 2024, the cumulative account base under PMJDY exceeded 52 crore, with deposits totalling over Rs 2.3 lakh crore — a remarkable transformation from the near-zero balances many accounts initially held.
The true power of PMJDY was revealed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When the government announced direct cash transfers under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, the PMJDY account infrastructure enabled the rapid disbursement of Rs 500 per month to over 20 crore women account holders. This Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) capability — routing welfare payments, LPG subsidies, MGNREGA wages, and scholarships directly into accounts — eliminated intermediaries and significantly reduced leakage. Government economists estimated DBT savings in the range of crores of rupees by cutting ghost beneficiaries and fraudulent claims.
For the banking system and investors, PMJDY represented a significant operational expansion of the addressable customer base. However, the commercial challenge was converting low-balance, infrequently used accounts into engaged banking relationships. Banks and fintechs subsequently focused on cross-selling micro-insurance, micro-savings products, and eventually digital credit to this newly banked population — laying the groundwork for a mass-market financial services opportunity.