Deposits received in Jan Dhan accounts have reported a new high of Rs 64,564 crore, of which over Rs 300 crore poured in the first seven months of demonetisation, according to government data.
As per the data provided by Ministry of Finance, collected through a Right to Information (RTI) application, there were about 28.9 crore Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts on June 14 this year.
Of these deposits, 23.27 crore accounts were from public sector banks, 4.7 crore with regional rural banks and 92.7 lakh with private ones.
The PMJDY is one of the flagship schemes launched Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aims at bringing unbanked areas and people under a formal banking system. Bank accounts under this scheme can be opened with a zero balance.
Further, these accounts collectively have deposits of Rs 64,564 crore, the Finance Ministry data show. While Public sector banks account for Rs 50,800 crore, regional rural banks for Rs 11,683.42 crore and private banks, Rs 2,080.62 crore.
“On November 16, 2016, there were 25.58 crore PMJDY accounts with an aggregate deposit of Rs 64,252.15 crore,” said Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar in Lok Sabha.
Thus, according to the data between November 16 last year and June 14 this year, Rs 311.93 crore had been added to Jan Dhan accounts.
“There are some reports received that some people are using other persons’ bank accounts to convert their black money into new denomination notes,” said the Central Government in an official communique on November 18, hinting the misuse of Jan Dhan accounts.
“Also the person who allows his or her account to be misused for this purpose can be prosecuted for abetment under the Income Tax Act,” it had said.
