-The Indian Express The prime minister's Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY) is, in many ways, an improvement over previous financial-inclusion schemes. And with an aggressive target to cover 15 crore households with basic banking services, including an overdraft facility, debit card as well as accident and life insurance cover, it is the most ambitious attempt yet. However, to achieve its promise, the JDY needs to focus on implementation. As suggested by the...

-The Indian Express Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to ensure "universal coverage" under Aadhaar by June 2015. According to government officials, the PM set the deadline at a high-level meeting chaired by him in the first week of September. The target was reiterated in the minutes of the meeting circulated to all the concerned departments. Directions have also been issued to the Registrar General...

-The Indian Express The government is aiming to lend Rs 165,000 crore to the poor and unbanked population through the overdraft facility at an interest rate of 11 per cent under its ongoing Jan Dhan financial inclusion programme. "It is estimated that there are 18.2 crore basic banking accounts and. by the end of the campaign another 15 crore accounts would get added. An overdraft of Rs 5,000 in each of these...

-The Hindu Business Line   Opening bank accounts in rural areas is all very well, but biometric frauds are a serious possibility The ambitious Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) aims at bringing millions of rural Indians within the financial mainstream by opening bank accounts. In 2006, the Reserve of India, recognising that a majority of rural Indians had little or no access to banking services, allowed banks to use third-party, non-bank agents...

-The Hindustan Times The finance ministry will soon initiate a survey to assess the efficacy of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and analyse how many accounts have been opened. The report will be sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. About 40 million accounts have been opened under the scheme so far. "We would soon initiate a survey to understand how many unbanked households have been covered region-wise," a senior finance ministry...