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Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is a big step towards financial inclusion in India.  A Jan Dhan bank account offers some special facilities.

One of the significant benefits under the scheme is free accidental insurance cover for account holders.

Free insurance

Under PMJDY, a RuPay Debit card is provided to account holders. In 2018, the Centre enhanced the accidental insurance cover under the RuPay scheme for Jan Dhan account holders.

For accounts opened after August 28, 2018, an accidental insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh is available and for those accounts opened before August 28, 2018, accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh is available.

But there is a rider. Personal accidental insurance under PMJDY shall be payable if the RuPay Card holder has performed a minimum one successful transaction within 90 days prior to date of accident.

In that case the accident date will be included.

Debit cards

According to latest data, a total of 30.9 crore RuPay 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.

Ladakh, Manipur

According to government data, about 90% of the beneficiaries of Jan Dhan accounts in Ladakh have debit cards while only 35.14% have it in Manipur.

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 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.