Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet scheme Jan Dhan Yojna a flop show? World Bank numbers suggest so

By NewsGram Staff Writer

There might be an increase in the number of bank accounts being opened in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet scheme Jan Dhan Yojna, but the country suffers high dormancy rates, said a World Bank report.

The number of account holders in India has gone up to 12 crore but only 57 per cent of these accounts have been found to be active in real sense, according to the World Bank report.

"The dormancy rate in India is quite high at 43 per cent and accounts for about 195 million of the 460 million adults with a dormant account around the world," the report said.

In August 2014, India launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme for financial inclusion with the goal of helping unbanked with a bank account. The scheme now looks good only on papers with most families not making a use of it.

According to the report, opening of new accounts was only an initiative by the government to push its financial inclusion. Now we need to think again if this Jan Dhan Yojna is only an attempt by the government to prove its sincerity towards its promises.

Moreover, only 39 per cent of all account holders in India own a debit or an ATM card, it said.

The World Bank said: "18 per cent of adults in south Asia own a debit card, compared to 31 percent in developing countries on average."