Deposits In Jan Dhan Accounts Set To Touch Rs 1 Lakh Crore: Centre

New Delhi: With 34.73 crore Jan Dhan account holders, the total deposit in the accounts is set to cross Rs 1 lakh crore soon.

Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla told the Financial Express that changes made in the scheme have yielded good results, dismissing critics questioning the success of the scheme.

Total deposits in Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan accounts have gone up from Rs 88,566 crore to Rs 92,678 crore in little over a month. As per the latest official data, these accounts have registered an increase of over Rs 4,000 crore between January 23 to February 27.

Earlier the scheme was criticised for the large number of zero balance accounts and low per capita deposits.

The measures included increasing the limit of the overdraft facility to Rs 10,000 per account. The in-built accidental insurance cover offered to RuPay debit card holders has also increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh besides continuing with the existing life cover of Rs 30,000 subject to fulfillment of eligibility criteria.

Jan Dhan Bank Accounts is set to get further fillip in the election year as funds for several government schemes, including the schemes of state governments and the newly launched farm income support scheme – the PM-Kisan scheme, are also likely to be routed through Aadhaar linked Jan Dhan Accounts.

However, the success of its in-built social security feature has failed to take off. According to Financial Times, the insurance cover that comes with the scheme remains a non-starter with only 9,566 claims paid from a meager 12,260 applications.

Among the 34.73 crore account holders, the number of people who received benefits under the inbuilt social security insurance schemes is abysmally low at less than 10,000.