19 crore Indian adults don't have bank account: World Bank

April 19, 2018 20:10

India has 19 crore adults without a bank account despite the success of the ambitious Jan Dhan Yojana, making it the world's second largest unbanked population after that of China, the World Bank said today.

Besides, almost half of the bank accounts remained inactive in the past year, the multilateral financial institution said in a report, even as it lauded the Indian government's financial inclusion scheme, the Jan Dhan Yojana, for bringing in additional 31 crore Indians into formal banking system by March 2018.

It also said the country's adult population with a bank account has more than doubled to 80 per cent since 2011. The Jan Dhan Yojana was launched by the Modi government in 2014.

According to the latest Global Findex Database released by the World Bank on the sidelines of the annual Spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, 11 per cent of the world's unbanked adults are in India.

Globally, 69 per cent of adults 3.8 billion people now have an account at a bank or mobile money provider, a crucial step in escaping poverty.

This is up from 62 per cent in 2014 and just 51 per cent in 2011. From 2014 to 2017, 515 million adults obtained an account, and 1.2 billion have done so since 2011, according to the Global Findex database.

The bank said China and India, despite having relatively high account ownership, claim large shares of the global unbanked population because of their sheer size.

-- PTI

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Chess whiz Gukesh reveals his inspiration: Find out who

D Gukesh admires the way charismatic former India skipper MS Dhoni and iconic tennis player Novak Djokovic

Rahul, Hema in fray as 88 seats go to polls in Phase 2

Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.

India calls US report on human rights 'deeply biased'

India on Friday described a United States State Department report citing alleged incidents of human rights violations including in Manipur as 'deeply biased' and said it reflects a poor understanding of India and it attach no value to it.

Investors' wealth up by Rs 11 lk cr in 5 days

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped to a lifetime peak of Rs 404.18 lakh crore on Thursday helped by a five-day rally in benchmark indices, making investors richer by Rs 11.29 lakh crore. Recovering after a sell-off...

Shikhar Dhawan's comeback on the cards

PBKS spin bowling coach Sunil Joshi said Dhawan is on a recovery course and the left-hander could possibly make a return in their next game in Chennai.