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The deposits in banks have crossed Rs 500 crore mark in the state under the flagship Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) with opening of 6.4 million bank accounts as on August 8, 2015.
To be specific, Rs 522.41 crore deposits have been mobilized in the accounts opened under the mission mode scheme. PMJDY, launched last year, aims at opening at least one account for each household in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the scheme on 28 August 2014 across the country.
The latest State Level Bankers' Committee report claims to have achieved 100 per cent saturation (each household having minimum one savings bank deposit account) in all the 30 districts of the state. However, zero balance accounts continue to weigh heavily on the flagship programme.
As many as 2707922 accounts of total 6411851 accounts opened (about 42.23 percent), didn't have any deposit in the passbook. Of the total of 64,11, 851 accounts opened, 45,38,354 were in the rural areas and the balance in the urban areas.
Rupay Card has been issued to 48,01, 044 beneficiaries who will get a benefit of personal accidental insurance of Rs one lakh under PMJDY and about 70 per cent of the cards issued are activated.
An overdraft facility of Rs 5000 after satisfactory operation in the account for six months is also allowed under the scheme. It may be noted that the PMJDY is a game changer for the economy as it has provided the platform for direct benefits transfer (DBT) which, in turn plugs the leakages in subsidies and thereby provide savings to the exchequer. The universal access to banking facilities for all households across the country are provided through a bank branch or a fixed point business correspondent (BC) called bank mitra. As many as 4481 BC agents are active in the state.
PMJDY has covered 47765 villages, 6276 sub service areas and 1729 wards in Odisha.
