Three out of four Jan Dhan account holders now have a RuPay debit card, although anecdotal evidence suggests that many may not be using them.
Official data reveals that issuance of RuPay debit cards, under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, reached an all-time high of 29.14 crore as of February 19, 2020.
In total, the scheme has 38.13 crore beneficiaries with accounts. This amounts to total deposits of ₹1,16,152.12 crore.
Like the trend in the past, public sector banks issued the largest number of RuPay debit cards at 24.42 crore, followed by regional rural banks that issued 3.57 crore cards and then private banks that gave out 1.15 crore cards.
As part of the government’s financial inclusion initiative, every account holder under the flagship PMJDY get a RuPay PMJDY Debit Card that can be used at all ATMs, POS terminals and e-commerce websites. It also comes with added personal accident and permanent total disability insurance cover of ₹1 lakh.
RuPay debit cards under the scheme also amounted to nearly a third of the 80.53 crore outstanding debit cards in the country, by end December 2019.
Bankers say that while issue of debit cards under the PMJDY was slow in the initial years, but it is now almost at pace with account opening process. “The target is to ensure that every account holder has a RuPay debit card when the account is opened,” said a bank official.
However, bankers point out that the actual usage of these debit cards is still low and not many beneficiaries opt to use it.
“In rural areas, the lack of ATMs and awareness often hampers the use of these debit cards by beneficiaries,” the official noted.