No Directions Given To Close Inactive PM Jan Dhan Accounts: Finance Ministry

The Ministry of Finance firmly denied on Tuesday reports suggesting that the Union government instructed banks to close inactive PM Jan Dhan Yojana accounts.

In a statement, the Department of Financial Services clarified that it did not ask banks to shut down inactive Jan Dhan accounts.

The clarification comes in response to recent media reports claiming that the government advised banks to close long-inactive PMJDY accounts due to concerns about potential misuse, including fraud and money laundering.

The DFS emphasised that a three-month national campaign was launched on July 1 to enhance adoption of key financial-inclusion initiatives, including the PMJDY, Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana. As part of the campaign, banks are expected to conduct re-KYC procedures for all due accounts and reach out to account holders with inoperative accounts to encourage reactivation.

According to the department, the number of PMJDY accounts continues to rise steadily. It stated that it constantly monitors inactive accounts and only advised banks to contact customers, not to close accounts. The department said no instances of mass closures of inactive accounts have come to its notice.

The media reports had cited that out of 55.7 crore Jan Dhan accounts opened over the past 10 years, 11 crore are currently inactive. However, the DFS reiterated that despite this figure, no instructions have been issued for closure, as focus remains on bringing more people into the financial mainstream.