Dr. Vivek Joshi, Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, chaired a day-long review meeting with heads of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) here today. Dr Varsha Joshi, Additional Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry; Shri Sagar Mehra, Joint Secretary, Department of Fisheries; Shri Rahul Kapur, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and representatives from Ministry of Agriculture & farmers Welfare also took part in the review meeting. The review meeting was also attended by Chairman NABARD & CEO of NPCI.

During the meeting, the progress under various social security (Jan Suraksha) schemes including Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, Stand Up India and PMSVANidhi were reviewed. Dr. Joshi exhorted the PSBs to achieve the targets allocated to them under the various schemes for financial inclusion in a time bound manner.

During the meeting, Dr. Joshi also discussed with banks the three months long saturation campaign of PMJJBY & PMSBY schemes from 01.04.2023 to 30.06.2023. Dr Joshi emphasised that continued support, active role and participation from all banks will go a long way in ensuring that the saturation campaign reaches the maximum number of eligible beneficiaries. Banks were advised to leverage their Banking Corresponds network for outreach and enrolling potential beneficiaries. Secretary DFS also requested banks to conduct awareness campaigns about these schemes in regional / vernacular languages.

The progress of Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) scheme was also discussed in the meeting with special focus on issuance of KCC for animal husbandry and fisheries. Scaling up of the account aggregator ecosystem was also reviewed. Issues related to Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) and digital document execution framework were also discussed in the meeting.

Financial inclusion schemes saturation campaign urges banks to intensify outreach and enroll eligible beneficiaries promptly. The Secretary, Department of Financial Services reviewed progress of central financial inclusion and social security schemes administered via Public Sector Banks, urging timely achievement of targets, use of Banking Correspondents for outreach, and regional language awareness campaigns. The meeting also endorsed a three month saturation campaign for PMJJBY and PMSBY, and reviewed issuance of Kisan Credit Cards for animal husbandry and fisheries, expansion of the account aggregator ecosystem, and operational issues relating to Debt Recovery Tribunals and digital document execution.