Elaborating on the benefits of Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which completed its 10 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that for him, this was not just a policy, but an endeavour to build an India where each has access to the formal banking apparatus.

In a post on LinkedIn, PM Modi said that the situation was very different when he took office in 2014 as access to banking was a distant dream of almost half of the country’s households.

“Many of you, especially the youth, would be thinking- why does this matter so much? After all, in this age, having a bank account would be very basic and even taken for granted. However, when we assumed office in 2014, the situation was very different. It was almost 65 years since Independence, but access to banking was a distant dream for almost half of our households. Theirs was a world where savings were kept at home, vulnerable to loss and theft. Access to credit was often at the mercy of predatory lenders. The absence of financial security held back so many dreams,” he said.

The Prime Minister also mentioned that earlier, Congress nationalised the banks for the benefit of the poor, but the poor never got any access to it.

“This problem becomes even more ironical because four and a half decades ago, banks were nationalised by the then (Congress) Government and that too in the name of the poor! Yet, the poor never got access to banking,” the PM said.

PM Modi, further said that it was a challenge to implement the scheme at such an “enormous” level, but the determination of the people of India was strong.

“When the Jan Dhan Yojana was rolled out, I remember the scepticism that surrounded it too. Some people asked- could it be possible to bring such a large number of people into the banking system? Will this effort lead to any concrete changes? Yes. The scale of the challenge was enormous, but so was the determination of the people of India to ensure it becomes a reality,” he said.

He also highlighted that today, over 53 crore people who never imagined they would enter a bank have bank accounts.

“These accounts have a deposit balance of over Rs. 2.3 lakh crore. Over 65 per cent of the accounts are either in rural or semi-urban areas, thus taking the movement of financial inclusion outside the metros. Direct transfers worth almost Rs. 39 lakh crore have taken place,” the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi termed the PMJDY as a “game-changer” for women’s empowerment.

“Almost 30 crore women have been brought into the banking system,” he said.

“Likewise, the benefits of the scheme and the other benefits that come thanks to a bank account have positively impacted crores of SC, ST and OBC families,” the PM added.

He also asserted that if the Jan Dhan Yojana was not there, then the MUDRA Yojana, or the social security schemes of the Government, namely the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and the Atal Pension Yojana would never have been as impactful.

Further, PM Modi emphasized that Jan Dhan also became a vital pillar of the JAM Trinity- Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile.

“The landmark contribution of this trinity was to eliminate the scourge of middlemen and touts who, for decades, thrived in public loot. It is this trinity that ensured a stunning digital payments revolution in India, especially in the middle and later years of the last decade. The very same elements who doubted the relevance of a scheme like Jan Dhan were yet again mocking the need for digital payments in a nation like ours. But, once again, they underestimated the collective resolve of our people,” he said.

PM Modi also highlighted that over 40 per cent of real-time digital payments in the world happen in India.

“PM Jan Dhan Yojana personifies dignity, empowerment and the opportunity to participate in the economic life of the nation. The foundations laid by this scheme are strong, but we have even more work to do! We will continue to build on this success to build a Viksit Bharat,” the Prime Minister asserted.

He also lauded the efforts of the countless banking staff who made financial inclusion their mission and ensured a better life for their fellow Indians.