Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) 2023 - Benefits & Online Apply

Equal access to financial tools and a proper understanding of them is essential for a nation to progress. After all, such a thing is a fundamental right for all citizens in a democratic nation. The government of India recognized this need for financial inclusion and came up with a solution for it in the form of the Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana or PMJDY. 

What Is Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)?

The full form of PMJDY is Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana, a scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28th August 2014. This scheme has been tagged as ‘the largest financial inclusion initiative in the world’ as it was launched to help the underprivileged of Indian society access financial services like savings and deposit accounts, insurance, credit, pension, remittance, etc. 

Under this scheme, any citizen of India can apply for a bank account as long as they didn’t have one before. There is no need to maintain a balance in the account (a zero balance requirement), and the interest received is based on the bank’s savings account interest rate.   

Objectives of Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

The Jhan Dhan Yojana's basic objective is to offer affordable financial services to the weaker and low-income groups of Indian society. The scheme aims to ensure universal access to banking facilities with at least one bank account for every Indian household. The plan also aims to offer all government benefits to the beneficiary accounts through the Direct Benefits Transfer scheme of the Union Government. 

Features Of Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

The main features of the Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana include: 

• The scheme is available to all rural and urban households across India.

• More than 15 crore accounts would be opened for the poor under this scheme.

• Bank accounts can be opened with any bank or a Bank Mitra. A Bank Mitra is a person or organization representative of a bank, authorized to provide banking services in rural or urban areas. 

• Account holders are eligible for RuPay Debit Cards. 

• Any amount deposited into the bank account earns an interest per the bank's savings account interest rate.

• An overdraft facility of ₹ 10,000 will be available to account holders under this scheme, provided that the account is Aadhaar linked and has been active for at least 6 months.

• Account holders are eligible for an accident insurance cover of ₹ 1 lakh. This amount was increased to ₹ 2 lakh for those that opened their accounts after 28th August 2018. 

• A life insurance cover of ₹ 30,000 was also provided for account holders from the LIC. 

• Withdrawals from PMJDY accounts can be made with respective RuPay cards.

• There is a ₹ 10,000 per month withdrawal limit on PMJDY accounts.

• There is a ₹ 1 lakh deposit limit as well on PMJDY accounts.

• PMJDY account holders are eligible for other government social security schemes like the Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Bank, etc.   

Eligibility For Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

The following are the eligibility criteria for the PM Jhan Dhan Yojana: 

• Applicants must be citizens of India.

• Applicants should be over 10 years of age. 

• Applicants should not have another bank account.

• Taxpayers and their families cannot apply for this scheme. 

• Subscribers of Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana cannot apply for this scheme. 

Documents Required To Open A Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) Account

The following are the documents needed to open a Jhan Dhan Yojana account:

• Filled and signed PMJDY account opening form.

• Aadhar Card

• PAN Card

• Passport 

• Driving License

• Voter’s ID

• Job card issued by the NREGA - National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

• Passport sized photograph

Thus, an applicant has to provide a government-issued ID card, age and address proof, the account opening form, and a passport-sized photograph. 

However, if you don’t have any of these documents, you can still open an account with PMJDY if the bank deems you a low-risk individual. In this case, you will need the following documents along with the account opening form and passport-sized photo:

• A photo identity card issued by central or state governments, statutory or regulatory authorities, scheduled commercial banks, public sector undertakings, or public financial institutions. 

• A letter from a gazetted officer with your attested photograph attached. 

How To Open a Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY Account)?

Opening a PMJDY account is very simple. All you have to do is go to your preferred (or nearest) bank and ask for a PMJDY account opening form, fill it, have attested copies of the above-mentioned documents, along with a passport-sized photograph, and submit all of it to the appointed Jhan Dhan Mitr at the bank. Your account will be open in a few days. 

You can also download the PM Jhan Dhan Yojana account opening form in Hindi and English if you prefer. 

Benefits of Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

The following are the benefits of having a Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana account:

• Interest is earned on deposits in PMJDY accounts.

• No requirement for a minimum balance in bank accounts opened under PMJDY.

• A life insurance cover of ₹ 30,000 and an accidental insurance cover of ₹ 2 lakh are provided for free to eligible account holders.

• Money transfer across India is easily possible. 

• Direct benefit transfer.

• An overdraft facility is available after six months of opening and maintaining an account.

• Access to financial products like pensions and insurance is easier for account holders. 

• Overdraft of up to ₹ 10,000 is available to one person (preferably a women) in every household.

• The personal accident insurance cover under PMJDY can only be claimed by account holders with a RuPay card that has had at least one successful transaction processed by a Bank Mitra, Bank Branch, ATM, POS, E-COM, etc. 

Overdraft Facility Under Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

The PM Jhan Dhan Yojana offers an overdraft facility of up to ₹ 10,000 to low-income and underprivileged account holders. This is so that they can use the free credit to meet their exigencies without the banks asking for securities. 

Eligibility For Overdraft Facility

To avail of the OD facility, account holders must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Their account must be linked to Aadhar.

• Their account should have been active for at least 6 months.

• The OD will preferably be given to the women of the household.

• The account holder must be between 18 and 60 years of age.

Features Of Overdraft Facility

The following are the features of the OD facility under PMJDY: 

• The OD is sanctioned for 36 months. 

• The loan amount is calculated to be 4 times the average monthly balance, or 50% of credit summations, or ₹ 10,000, whichever is lower.

• There is no need to provide security to receive the OD.

• The interest rate for the OD is maxed at 2%. 

How To Avail The Overdraft Facility?

If all the eligibility criteria are met, applying for the OD is just a matter of filling and submitting a loan application or undertaking form from the bank, along with an arrangement letter signed and approved by the account holder. Please remember that only one person per family can apply for the loan. 

Life Insurance Under Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

When he launched the Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana in August 2014, the Prime Minister announced that a life insurance cover of ₹ 30,000 would also be available to PM Jhan Dhan Yojana account holders. The cover can be claimed by the deceased’s family on the death of the life assured due to any cause. This was offered to secure the lives of low-income families that cannot afford direct insurance. 

Features Of Life Insurance Under PMJDY

The following are the features of the life insurance offered under PMJDY: 

• The coverage offered is up to ₹ 30,000. 

• The coverage can be claimed for death due to any cause, including suicide.

• There is no need to apply separately for the insurance. It comes along with opening a PMJDY account. 

• The government pays the premium for the insurance. So the account holder does not have to pay anything. 

• The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) offers insurance.

• Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana subscribers are not eligible for life insurance under PMJDY.

• The claim amount will go to the nominee of the bank account. The LIC will transfer the amount to the nominee's account through APBS (Aadhar Payments Bridge System) or NEFT if APBS isn’t available. 

• The nominee must provide their bank details when applying for the claim.

• After the claim form is submitted, the LIC will settle the claim within a week. 

• The insurance is for a one-year term, though it will be automatically renewed on the renewal date. The risk cover continues to increase until the exit of the member.

• A member exits the life insurance scheme when they reach 60 years of age, leave the PMJDY scheme, no longer meet eligibility criteria, or when their RuPay card expires.

Eligibility For Life Insurance Under PMJDY

The following are the eligibility criteria for life insurance under the Jhan Dhan Yojana: 

• Account holders should have opened their PMJDY account with a RuPay card between 15th August 2014 and January 2015. 

• The individual must be between 18 and 59 years of age and a member of a family. Therefore, minors and people over 60 cannot apply. 

• The PMJDY account must be Aadhar linked, and the account holder must have availed of a RuPay Debit card.

• If the holder has more than one account or card, the cover will be available only for one account. Therefore, every eligible individual account holder can have a cover of ₹ 30,000. 

• You can avail of the PMJDY life insurance even if you have already paid in full or partially for another insurance cover. 

• In the case of a joint account, if the primary account holder is ineligible, the secondary holder can be the person covered as long as they satisfy the eligibility criteria. 

• If a minor opened a PMJDY account, they would be eligible for the cover if they turned 18 between 15th August 2014 and January 2015. 

Accident Insurance Under PMJDY

PM Jhan Dhan Yojana account holders are also eligible for Accident Insurance of up to ₹ 1 lakh. The following are the eligibility criteria for accident insurance:

• The person must be an account holder under PMJDY.

• The account holder must have a RuPay card and have used it for at least one successful transaction. 

• A non-financial customer-induced transaction is also acceptable for eligibility.

• The transaction should have been conducted at any bank, bank Mitra, POS outlet, ATM, E-commerce, etc. 

• A transaction that happened on the day of the accident would also be valid.

• An intra-bank or inter-bank transaction would be valid for the insurance claim. 

• The cover will be available for only one account in case the person has more than one account.  

How To Claim For Insurance With Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)?

The nominee must file the claim for the insurance at the bank branch where the savings account of the holder was opened. The following documents must be filed for the insurance claim to be processed:

• The filled out and signed claim form;

• An attested copy of the Aadhar or biometric and the passbook of the deceased;

• The original death certificate of the assured attested by the nominee.;

• The ration card or BPL card to ensure the ‘head of family’ status of the deceased;

• An attested copy of the Aadhar and passbook of the nominee;

• Attested copy of Age proof, preferably Aadhar, school certificate, birth certificate, ration card, or voter’s ID. 

Progress Of PMJDY

According to the Ministry of Finance, as of June 2021, over 42.44 crore beneficiaries have been added under the scheme. Of these accounts, 63.6% have been opened in rural areas, and 55.2% belong to women. Moreover, around 31 crore RuPay debit cards have been issued since the scheme launched. 

Additionally, 34.81 crore accounts were still operative as of August 2020, and the total aggregate balance from all these accounts stands at ₹ 1.31 lakh crore, with ₹ 3239 being the average deposit amount. 

The scheme became part of the Guinness Book of World Records when it first launched, with the record of ‘most bank accounts opened in one week’. 18,096,130 were opened under the PM Jhan Dhan Yojana in the first week after its launch. 

In 2020, when the Covid pandemic broke out, the Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitaraman, announced that all women Jhan Dhan Yojana account holders would receive ₹ 500 per month for the next three months. This announcement was made on 26th March 2020 to assist with the loss caused by the outbreak. 

Additionally, the government provided a cover package of ₹ 1.7 lakh crores to deal with the financial troubles that arose due to the Covid outbreak under the PM Garib Kalyan Scheme. The initial 21-day lockdown cost the Indian economy around ₹ 9 lakh crores. 

Jhan Dhan Darshak App

The government of India launched the Jhan Dhan Darshak app in association with the Pradhan Mantri Jhan Dhan Yojana. The app was to help all those interested in the PMJDY to find the nearest bank branches, post offices, ATMs, or Bank Mitras. 

Additionally, the government also uses the app to identify villages where banking services are unavailable and offer these remote areas banking touchpoints to improve their financial literacy and help them develop. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Q. Who can open a PMJDY account?

Any citizen of India over 10, who is not an Income Tax payee and hasn’t subscribed to the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana can open a PM Jhan Dhan Yojana account.

Q. Where can a PMJDY account be opened?

A Jhan Dhan Yojana account can be opened at any bank branch or corresponding business outlet that offers it or with any Bank Mitra. 

Q. What is a small account under PMJDY?

A small account under PMJDY is an account opened by those who do not have all the documents required to open a regular PMJDY account and is valid for one year. The documents need to be submitted to continue the account beyond one year.

Q. Can the loan amount taken against the scheme be extended?

Yes, the loan amount can be extended as long as the EMIs are paid on time. 

Q. What is the maximum withdrawal limit under PMJDY?

The maximum withdrawal limit under PM Jhan Dhan Yojana is ₹ 10,000.