Five years ago, the Modi-government had launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, to make financial services affordable to everyone in India. As on 3 July, government data shows that deposits made in these bank accounts opened under the scheme have crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark.

Latest Finance Ministry data says that the total balance in over 36.06 crore PMJDY accounts was at Rs 1,00,495.94 crore as on 3 July. Previously on 6 June, steadily rising deposits in the accounts of the beneficiaries were seen at Rs 99,649.84 crore. These were recorded at Rs 99,232.71 crore, a week before.

The financial inclusion program was launched on 28 August 2014 and accounts opened under PMJDY are Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts that come with the additional features of RuPay debit card and overdraft.

Recently, at the Rajya Sabha, the Finance Ministry said that the number of zero balance accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana had declined from 5.10 crore (16.22 percent of the total accounts) in March 2018 to 5.07 crore (14.37 percent of the total accounts) in March 2019.

Over 28.44 crore account holders have been issued Rupay debit cards. These BSBD accounts do not require maintaining minimum balance.

The government had enhanced the accident insurance cover to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1 lakh for new accounts opened after 28 August 2018 and the overdraft limit has also been doubled to Rs 10,000.

The government also shifted the focus on accounts from 'every household' to 'every unbanked adult'. Data suggests that over 50 percent of Jan Dhan account holders are women.