Almost every household has a bank account: Labour Bureau

Almost every household in the country is a part of the banking system, mainly due to government’s financial inclusion plans, the latest Labour Bureau data showed.

Around 94.4 per cent households had a saving bank accounts in 2015-16, results of the Fifth Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey revealed. The figure was much higher than the official figure (58.7 per cent) of households with saving bank accounts in India, as per Census 2011.

While 93.4 per cent households in rural areas had a bank account, 96.8 houses had a savings bank account in the urban parts. In Daman and Diu and Lakshwadeep, all the households surveyed had saving bank accounts. Chandigarh had 99 per cent households with saving bank accounts whereas households in Nagaland had the least, 79.2 per cent, access to the banking system.

North-eastern states

Banking penetration was particularly low in north-eastern states – Manipur (82.8 per cent), Meghalaya (85.1 per cent) and Arunachal Pradesh (88.9 per cent). This was followed by a comparatively low coverage in West Bengal (90.4 per cent), Karnataka (91.6 per cent) and Mizoram (91.7 per cent).

“Government of India’s recent initiatives to enhance the financial inclusion and accessibility of financial institutions such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (Mudra) Yojana may have translated into entering of more population in the ambit of formal financial activities,” according to the report.

Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said during his speech during the BRICS Labour conference held here in Delhi that 24 crore bank accounts have been opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana scheme.

Jan Dhan Yojana

“The huge jump in saving bank accounts is mainly due to the Jan Dhan Yojana,” Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at CARE Ratings told The Hindu. “It’s a positive step necessary for financial inclusion. However, we need to ensure that households use their bank accounts as well.”

Centre had rolled out the Jan Dhan Yojana in August 2014 aimed to provide banking coverage to all households in India.