Jan Dhan: number of zero-balance a/cs has come down

The percentage of zero-balance accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is coming down in Corporation Bank, according to SR Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank.

Addressing presspersons in Mangaluru on Friday, he said that the percentage of zero balance accounts has come down from 31.89 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2014-15 to 27.76 per cent in the first quarter of 2015-16.

The bank had opened 22,99,720 accounts under the scheme. The balance in these accounts stood at Rs.535.78 crore as on June 30.

He said the average balance in the non-zero balance accounts is Rs.3,225 per account as against the national average of Rs.2,403.

Asked about the reason for this, Bansal said the bank had done the assessment of credit at the time of the survey for implementing PMJDY. This helped the bank to meet the credit needs of PMJDY account holders, thus bringing down the percentage of zero balance accounts.

Corporation Bank was allotted 2,291 villages in rural areas and 951 wards in urban areas across 23 States under the scheme.

Of the 22,99,720 accounts opened under PMJDY, RuPay card has been issued to 98.74 per cent of the accounts. Passbooks have been issued to 89.66 per cent of accounts.

He said 59.70 per cent of the accounts opened under PMJDY have been seeded with Aadhaar numbers.


Source : Thehindubusinessline