Jan Dhan Yojana A Roaring Success, 99 Per Cent Of Households Have At Least One Bank Account: Survey

Ever since the announcement of demonetisation on 8 November, the critics of the scheme have raised eyebrows over the use of Jan Dhan accounts by black money holders. Despite reports saying that not more than 40 Jan Dhan accounts have seen deposits higher than Rs 10 lakh, the controversy has refused to subside. Some have even gone to the extent of calling it a scam.

Now, a survey by ‘Household Survey on India’s Citizen Environment & Consumer Economy’ (ICE 360° survey) shows that the Jan Dhan Yojana, a flagship programme of the Narendra Modi government, has been a great success. The survey also shows that around 99 per cent of households in India, both urban and rural, has at least one member with a bank account. Covering over 61,000 households, the survey is one of the largest consumer economy surveys in the country.

Other interesting points:

• 91 per cent of households in urban areas and 78 per cent in rural areas have their Aadhaar card linked to their bank accounts.
• In 20 per cent of households which have access to banking, the working member does not use banking instruments to save. Out of these, 42 per cent belong to under-developed rural areas and 5 per cent belong to metros.
• The survey shows a big jump in banking access compared to 2011, when the last census showed that only 58.7 per cent households had access to banking.
  

The survey was conducted by People Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE), an independent, not-for-profit organisation headed by two consumer economy experts, Rama Bijapurkar and Rajesh Shukla.