PMJDY and Bank Mitras

Under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), 25.68 crore accounts have been opened across the country till 23.11.2016 and out of which 13.85 crore accounts have been seeded with Aadhaar.

PMJDY focuses on coverage of rural as well as urban areas whereas earlier financial inclusion “Swabhimaan” scheme targeted only villages above 2000 population under which 74351 villages were covered by March 31, 2012.

Bank Mitra is permitted inter-alia to process and submission of applications to the bank thus facilitating opening of bank accounts. Under Swabhimaan, Business Correspondent (BC) was visiting only on fixed days while under PMJDY, Fixed Point Bank Mitra (Business Correspondent) in each Sub Service Area comprising of 1000-1500 household (3 to 4 villages on an average) are available on every day of the week. They also visit other villages in the SSA on fixed days.

RBI has instructed the banks to pay reasonable commission/fee to the Business Correspondents, the rate and quantum of which may be reviewed periodically. The remuneration should combine fixed and variable parts dependent, inter-alia, on some indication or measure of customer satisfaction. Some parts of the variable remuneration could be deferred or clawed back in case of deficiency of service. Under PMJDY, 126514 Bank Mitras have been deployed as on 18.11.2016. Banks have also been asked to pay minimum ₹ 5000/- (fixed and variable) to Bank Mitras. The recruitment/appointment of Business Correspondents are finalized by the respective banks keeping in view broad guidelines stipulated by RBI.

This was stated by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.