Everything you need to know about the Jan Dhan Yojana

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana or PMJDY was launched on 28^th August 2014, by the honorable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. The scheme is a move in the direction of financial inclusiveness. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was introduced wit the objective of providing financial services like access to credit, savings bank account and easy transactions to low economic groups. The Indian Government launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana in order to provide financial services and products to individuals who do not have access to a bank account. Individuals can open an account under the PMJDY scheme at both public and private sector banks.

Some of the features of the PMJDY:

1. No minimum balance to be maintained.
2. Rate of interest of 4% per annum.
3. Transfer of money is simple.
4. Overdraft facility is available.

This scheme is operated and monitored by the ministry of fiancé of India. The main department which controls the pmjdy is the department of financial resources. This scheme seeks to make available low-priced financial facilities and create at least one bank account for every person in the lower strata of the society. It also aims at spreading banking awareness to the masses and provide them with credit, pension and insurance facilities. One of the primary goals of the PMJDY is to directly transfer the benefits offered under different government schemes to beneficiaries’ accounts. All the account holders will receive a Rupay debit card that will come with a Rs. 1 lakh personal accident insurance cover.

Some of the features of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana are listed below:

1. An individual can go to any financial institution or contact any Bank Mitra to open an account with this scheme.
2. The minimum balance requirement of the account is zero, so the individual will be penalized even if they have zero money in the individuals account at any given time.
3. Individuals can also stand to earn interest on the deposit in the account.
4. An individual can also get an in built personal accidental insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. The individual can claim their personal accidental insurance only if they have performed at least one successful transaction using the RuPay card at any bank branch, Bank Mitra, ATM or POS within 90 days before the date of accident.
5. Under the PMJDY scheme, an individual can also get life insurance cover of Rs. 30,000.
6. One of the best features of the Jan Dhan account is the fact that all government-related benefits are passed on directly into the account under the DBT scheme.
7. Depending on how the individual and operate the account for 6 months, the individual can also be provided an overdraft facility.

The overdraft facility is available up to a cash limit of Rs. 5,000. Further the facility will be extended to only one account in a household, and the preference will be given to the female account holder.