Special Focus Was Given On Completion Of Household Survey Work And Coverage Of All Uncovered Households; Banks Asked For Early Issuance Of Pass Books And Rupay Debit Cards To Customers And Organize One Month As Rupay Card Activation Month

      A video conference meeting to review the progress in Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PYMJDY) was held here recently under the Chairmanship of Joint Secretary (FI), Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance.  The meeting was attended among others by Executive Directors of Public and Private Sector Banks and representatives of Indian Bankers’ Association (IBA) and NPCI.

      As per status presented in the meeting, Banks have opened 8.39 crore accounts under PMJDY and have issued 5.32 crore RuPay cards leaving a gap of 3.07 crore. All the banks have been advised to cover the gap including of their Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) by 15th December, 2014.

      During the review, special focus was given on completion of household survey work and coverage of all uncovered households.

      97% Survey Work has been completed. As per survey results, out of 20.28 Crore households, 17.28 crore households have been covered including persons already having bank accounts. Banks were asked to complete the remaining survey work by 10th December, 2014.

      It was decided that strategy should be framed in such a manner so as to cover remaining uncovered (3.00 Crore) households by 26th December, 2014. Thereafter the same should be duly publicized through local media that all uncovered households as per survey have been covered and public feedback should be obtained for information about uncovered households, if any. For this purpose, information may be given by a person who doesn’t have bank account himself or anybody having this knowledge by contacting toll free numbers. This process should be carried-out in close supervision and coordination of local district administration. Complete saturation of uncovered Households should be achieved by 26th January, 2015.

      During the video conferencing, banks have flagged some of the constraints/problems being faced by them in LWE districts. Connectivity and Migration of people are also some of the issues being faced by the banks. Banks exuded confidence that barring these certain problem areas, complete saturation will be achieved as per target.

      To ensure universal banking access, there is need of deployment of more some Bank Mitra. Banks have been asked to complete deployment in all remaining SSAs by 31st December 2014 with on line devices to Bank Mitra, capable of e-KYC based account opening and interoperable payment facility.

      Banks were asked for early issuance of Pass Books and RuPay Debit Cards to customers and organize one month as" RuPay card activation Month” to increase activation of RuPay card.

      It was discussed that Aadhaar number has been seeded in 30% of account opened under PMJDY. Banks were asked to aware the customers for Aadhaar Seeding and to use various channels including SMS, internet Banking and ATMs for seeding of Aadhaar numbers.

      Banks were asked to make efforts in area of financial literacy in coordination with various agencies and existing Financial Literacy Centers to spread awareness on PMJDY and use of RuPay cards etc.

      Banks were also asked to arrange for sensitizing of their staff members and training for Bank Mitras among others.

Universal banking access to be achieved through expedited account coverage, RuPay issuance, Bank Mitra deployment and Aadhaar seeding. Direction to complete household survey and cover remaining uncovered households, expedite issuance and activation of RuPay debit cards and passbooks, deploy Bank Mitra agents with online e KYC and interoperable payment capability, and promote Aadhaar seeding and financial literacy to achieve universal banking access, with local administration coordination and public feedback mechanisms to verify saturation.