25 lakh Jan-Dhan a/c holders yet to get benefits in Punjab

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 16

Though Punjab has been declared saturated under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) with the opening of around 56 lakh bank accounts, over 25 lakh account holders are yet to derive its benefits, for the RuPay cards meant for withdrawal through ATM, are yet to be activated or issued, leading to chaotic scenes outside banks to get valid currency notes.

RuPay is the home-grown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

According to the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) data, banks in the state have opened 56.14 lakh Jan-Dhan accounts. Out of this, the banks are yet to issue 8.01 lakh RuPay cards and 17.52 lakh cards await activation. Thus, over 25 lakh account holders in the state are yet to get the benefits of the scheme. Further, around 8.38 lakh accounts were having zero balance, which is around 15% of the total accounts.

Perturbed over the situation, Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal had recenlty asked the bankers to activate these cards. He told them to sensitise the population through Bank Mitras and Financial Literacy Centres for the activation of their RuPay cards.

Oriental Bank of Commerce, HDFC Bank and State Bank of Patiala are some of the banks where percentage of activation of RuPay cards is much lower.

Earlier, Dr RS Sangapure, Executive Director, PNB, said the latest amendment made by the NPCI regarding eligibility to claim accidental cover stipulated that benefits of insurance will be available to the cardholders who have performed minimum one successful financial or non-financial transaction at any channel, both intra and inter-bank.