Jan Dhan accounts: About 90% of beneficiaries in Ladakh have debit cards; only 35% have it in Manipur

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About 90% of the beneficiaries of Jan-Dhan accounts in Ladakh have debit cards while only 35.14% have it in Manipur.

The information is according to the data pertaining to March 31, 2021 shared on the portal of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.

Till the end of FY21, 30.9 crore debit cards were issued to 42.2 crore Jan Dhan beneficiaries. Therefore, on an average, 73.22% of the beneficiaries have debit cards that allow them to operate ATMs and even do online purchases.

The number of states and union territories where the share of debit card holders is more than the national average is 21. These are Andaman & Nicobar Islands, where 82.32% of Jan Dhan account holders have debit cards, Andhra Pradesh (77.87%), Arunachal Pradesh (86.29%), Bihar (78.43%), Daman & Diu (74.50%), Gujarat (76.36%), Haryana (74.77%), Himachal Pradesh (76.93%), Ladakh (89.53%), Lakshadweep (79.81%), Madhya Pradesh (82.32%), Nagaland (84.47%), Odisha (78.28%), Puducherry (75.53%), Punjab (78.51%), Rajasthan (79.12%), Sikkim (75.04%), Tamil Nadu (80.55%), Telangana (81.31%), Uttarakhand (77.49%), Delhi (80.96%) and J&K (73.38%).

Those with debit cards below the national average were Assam (59.68%), Chandigarh (68.66%), Chhattisgarh (67.37%), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (62.86%), Goa (69.58%), Jharkhand (70.71%), Karnataka (62.28%)Kerala (61.22%) Maharashtra (69.79%), Manipur (69.05%), Meghalaya (67.92%), Mizoram (35.14%), Tripura (41.51%), Uttar Pradesh (72.46%) and West Bengal (62.59%).

The largest number of cards (51,903,677), which is 16.79% of the country’s total has been issued in Uttar Pradesh, the state with the largest number of beneficiaries (71,334,839), which is 16.9% of the total number of beneficiaries.

The lowest number of cards, 4,793, was issued in the union territory of Lakshadweep that had a total beneficiary base of 6005.

Analysis of Jan Dhan data has thrown up a few interesting facts – on an average two in every three Jan Dhan accounts (66%) were opened in the rural/semi-urban areas, while one (34%) was opened in the urban/metro areas. The average deposit in these accounts in Rs 3,449.

Launched in August 2014 targeting the bottom of the financial pyramid, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan accounts constitute a quantum leap in the direction of financial inclusion and has a target of opening a bank account for each adult.

The programme has so far enlisted 42.20 crore beneficiaries – almost half the adult population of the country – who have between themselves deposited Rs 1.45 lakh crore in these accounts which can be opened in PSBs, regional rural banks and private sector banks.