(a) the number and details of accounts opened so far under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in Maharashtra, district-wise;
(b) the details of amount collected so far under PMJDY; and
(c) the efforts made by the Government to increase the number of branches of public sector banks in rural areas to make PMJDY more successful?
The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance
(a) & (b) As informed by banks, district-wise number of accounts opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in Maharashtra along with the deposits in these accounts is Annexed.
(c) As per extant guidelines dated 18.5.2017 on rationalisation of Branch Authorisation Policy, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted general permission to domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks), to open banking outlets (a fixed point service delivery unit, manned by either bank’s staff or its Business Correspondent (BC)) at any place in the country, without seeking prior approval of RBI in each case, subject to at least 25 percent of the total number of banking outlets opened during a financial year being in unbanked rural centres i.e. centres having population less than 10,000 (Tier 5 and Tier 6 centres).
In pursuance of RBI guidelines, rolling out of banking outlets in uncovered areas is a continuous process and is coordinated by State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), in consultation with the concerned State Government, member banks and other stakeholders. Banks, inter-alia, consider proposals for opening banking outlets in the light of RBI’s instructions, their business plans and their commercial viability. To further assess the viability for opening a banking outlet, banks carry out survey as required.
Further, to ensure availability of banking outlet (Bank branch/BC, within 5 kilometers of all inhabited villages the Government has launched a Geographic Information System (GIS) based app., namely, Jan Dhan Darshak app (JDD app) developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC). Banks have been provided login credentials to upload the GIS location of their branches, Business Correspondents and ATMs on the app. As per data uploaded by the banks on JDD app, out of the 5.538 lakh mapped villages on the app, 5.535 lakh (99.95%) villages are having banking outlet (branch or BC) within 5 kilometres distance.
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