As the government gets ready to unveil the second phase of its flagship Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, US President Barack Obama has promised to support the scheme.
“We are joining you in your effort to empower every Indian with a bank account …,” he said during his address at Siri Fort Auditorium on Tuesday. During his three-and-a-half-day visit to India, the US President also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheme for financial inclusion, the largest such initiative in the world.
On Monday, addressing the US and Indian business community, Obama had also announced that US companies would help in digitalising retail transactions.
“As you work to give every Indian household a bank account, American companies are ready to help to make sure these accounts can help Indians in their day-to-day lives, by digitalising retail transactions,” he had said.
Senior government officials said that while the first phase of the PMJDY has focussed on opening bank accounts for every household for which domestic banks were responsible, the second phase would work on financial literacy and providing financial services such as pension and insurance to all households, where American expertise could be used.
The finance ministry is expected to work out a roadmap for the second phase of the scheme soon, which will kick off over the next few months.
Congratulating bankers for their success in account opening, the Prime Minister had said that they must leverage these accounts to provide citizens a wide range of credit, insurance and pension services in the next stage of the scheme.
The PMJDY was launched on August 28 by the Prime Minister. By January 23, 12.01 crore accounts have been opened under the scheme with a cumulative balance of Rs 1,007 crore.
In a move towards digitalising retail transactions, each account holder is also provided a RuPay debit card and bank accounts are being seeded with Aadhar numbers for seamless transfer of subsidies.