Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana: A vehicle for financial inclusion

The present study seeks to investigate the current status of the PMJDY in India. The results revealed that the contribution of rural sector in terms of accounts opened under PMJDY was relatively higher than the urban sector in all the banking sectors namely, public sector banks, regional rural banks and private banks. The results further revealed that more than 70 percent of the accounts opened under PMJDY were opened with zero balance (626.34 lakh) depicting the weakness in the implementation strategy of the plan regarding easy access to banking system. From the public sector banks and RRBs, the State Bank of India plays an important and leading role in the opening accounts under PMJDY. The state-wise scenario of PMJDY shows that the highest number of accounts was opened in Uttar Pradesh including both rural and urban sectors due to its highest population rate. Whereas, Punjab has become the third state after Kerala and Madhya Pradesh where all households have at least one bank account.