The Finance Ministry said as many as 12.54 lakh Point of Sale (PoS) terminals were added in January-March this year, giving a boost to government's efforts to promote digital transactions after demonetization.

With the addition, the total number of PoS terminals increased to 27.73 lakh at the end of March 2017. Further, to improve such infrastructure in villages, 2.04 lakh PoS terminals have been sanctioned from the Financial Inclusion Fund by NABARD, according to key achievements and initiatives of Department of Financial Services for providing social security and credit to various sections of society and ensuring Financial Inclusion. To augment card acceptance infrastructure for use of debit cards, a major drive was undertaken between December 2016 and March 2017, resulting in an increase in PoS terminals by an additional 12.54 lakh, up from 15.19 lakh as on November 2016, it said.

Various departments under the government of India have come out with list of achievements on the third anniversary of the NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Highlighting other achievements of the department, it said, the deposit base under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts has expanded over time. As on April 5, the deposit balance in PMJDY accounts was Rs 63,971 crore in 28.23 crore accounts.

The average deposit per account has more than doubled from Rs 1,064 in March 2015 to Rs 2,235 in March 2017. A total of 22.14 crore RuPay cards have been issued under PMJDY. Under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) cumulative gross enrolment reported by banks subject to verification of eligibility, etc. is about 3.1 crore as on April 12. A total of 63,291 claims were registered under PMJJBY, of which 59,770 have been disbursed. As on March 31, a total of 48.54 lakh subscribers have been enrolled under Atal Pension Yojana with a total pension wealth of Rs 1,756.48 crore.

With regard to Stand Up India Scheme, which facilitates bank loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to at least one Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch for setting up greenfield enterprises, Rs 5,807.7 crore has been sanctioned in 28,444 accounts as on April 11.

Goodreturns.in