Arun Jaitley, the Indian Finance Minister, reportedly announced that the government has completed Phase I of the Jan-Dhan initiative, a scheme created by Prime Minister Modi to give all Indians access to banking services, including credit, savings, insurance, direct benefits transfer and electronic payments. The initiative first was announced in August 2014 and later was supported by the US Agency for International Development (AID) with a commitment of USD 10 million.
According to a statement attributed to Arun Jaitley “There are about 24 crore [240 million] families in India and only 58 percent of them have access to banking. We had targeted reaching 7.5 crore [75 million] families by 26 January but we have exceeded that target in December.”
The initiative calls for bank officers at existing banks to visit villages and slums to offer bank accounts to individuals. The initiative provides bank account holders with accident coverage, credit cards for farmers and debit cards.
By Ananya Tiwari, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
[1] Live Mint, http://www.livemint.com/Industry/jO5T8WDreEgTybJlLmebHN/Phase-I-of-Jan-Dhan-target-achieved-says-Arun-Jaitley.html
[2] Trak, http://trak.in/tags/business/2014/08/28/jan-dhan-yojana-bank-account-every-indian/
MicroCapital, January 26, 2015, “Triodos Investment Management Disburses Loans to Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME) Lenders in Cambodia, Colombia, India, Jordan, Uzbekistan,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-triodos-investment-management-disburses-loans-to-micro-small-medium-sized-enterprise-msme-lenders-in-cambodia-colombia-india-jordan-uzbekistan/
MicroCapital, January 23, 2015, “Manappuram of India Acquires 70% Stake in Asirvad Microfinance of India for $21m,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-manappuram-of-india-acquires-70-stake-in-asirvad-microfinance-of-india-for-21m/
MicroCapital, November 19, 2014, “US Agency for International Development (USAID) to Provide $71m to Government of India for Banking, Clean Energy, Water and Sanitation,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-us-agency-for-international-development-usaid-to-provide-71m-to-government-of-india-for-banking-clean-energy-water-and-sanitation/
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