Under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), account holders are provided banking services free of charge and without any requirement of maintaining minimum balance. As per the information provided by banks, district-wise number of accounts opened under PMJDY in Gujarat as on 03.07.2019 is at Annexure I. State-wise details of deposit balance in PMJDY as on 03.07.2019 is at Annexure II.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rationalized its Branch Authorisation Policy and granted general permission to domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks), including Public Sector Banks, to open banking outlets (a fixed point service delivery unit, manned by either bank’s staff or its Business Correspondents) 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 (Tier 5 and Tier 6 centres ie. having population less than 10,000). For this purpose, banking outlets opened in any centre having population less than 50,000 in North Eastern states and Sikkim and also Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts as notified by the Government of India are also considered as equivalent to opening of banking outlets in unbanked rural centres.

Under PMJDY scheme all villages were mapped into 1.59 lakh Sub-Service Areas (SSAs) where one SSA catering to 1,000 to 1,500 households. As informed by banks, while 0.33 lakh SSAs have been covered with bank branches, 1.26 lakh SSAs have been covered by deployment of interoperable Bank Mitras.

As per RBI, since the launch of PMJDY in August 2014, the number of rural branches of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) has increased from 41,823 in March 2014 to 51,653 in March, 2019. Further, number of Branch less mode / Business Correspondents (BCs) of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) in rural areas has also increased from 3.37 lakh in March, 2014 to 5.15 lakh in March, 2018.

This was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

Annexure I 

“PSBs branches in rural areas for success of PMJDY”

Total Number of accounts opened under  PMJDY in Gujarat as on 03.07.2019

District	PMJDY Accounts
Ahmadabad	1137933
Amreli	227839
Anand	470256
Arvalli	255369
Banas Kantha	1024251
Bharuch	494486
Bhavnagar	586314
Boatad	118779
Chhotaudepur	121133
Devbhoomi Dawarka	87637
Dohad	844455
Gandhinagar	205834
Gir Somnath	165110
Jamnagar	331213
Junagadh	315936
Kachchh	484639
Kheda	535284
Mahesana	401521
Mahisagar	61134
Morbi	97760
Narmada	241106
Navsari	356933
Panch Mahals	607206
Patan	359394
Porbandar	86108
Rajkot	552828
Sabar Kantha	420025
Surat	1450148
Surendranagar	409055
Tapi	199603
The Dangs	102381
Vadodara	788624
Valsad	535919
Total	14076213

Source: Banks

Annexure II

“PSBs branches in rural areas for success of PMJDY”

Deposit in PMJDY accounts as on 03.07.2019

State	Deposit in PMJDY Accounts (in Rs. crore)
Andaman & Nicobar Islands	23.76
Andhra Pradesh	1981.73
Arunachal Pradesh	118.07
Assam	3519.40
Bihar	9888.03
Chandigarh	105.10
Chhattisgarh	3214.06
Dadra & Nagar Haveli	49.67
Daman & Diu	18.89
Delhi	1783.14
Goa	90.79
Gujarat	4264.10
Haryana	3253.33
Himachal Pradesh	592.18
Jammu & Kashmir	949.45
Jharkhand	3194.51
Karnataka	3639.04
Kerala	1295.84
Lakshadweep	8.38
Madhya Pradesh	5134.27
Maharashtra	6058.64
Manipur	201.56
Meghalaya	244.02
Mizoram	88.03
Nagaland	54.79
Odisha	4494.46
Puducherry	39.52
Punjab	2555.18
Rajasthan	7541.72
Sikkim	39.66
Tamil Nadu	1937.10
Telangana	1694.20
Tripura	682.05
Uttar Pradesh	18235.10
Uttarakhand	1108.46
West Bengal	12397.70
Total	100495.95

Source: Banks

Branch authorisation policy mandates rural outlet coverage, enabling nationwide bank outlet expansion subject to rural service requirements. The Reserve Bank's Branch Authorisation Policy permits scheduled commercial banks to open banking outlets nationwide without prior approval, subject to a mandated share of new outlets being located in unbanked rural centres; outlets in certain low-population or notified special districts are treated as equivalents. PMJDY implementation mapped villages into 1.59 lakh Sub-Service Areas, with banks reporting SSA coverage through branches and interoperable Bank Mitras, and annexures provide district and state-level data on accounts and deposits.