New deposits in Jan Dhan a/cs fall sharply

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 6

With many of Jan Dhan accounts having been freezed by banks due to anomalies in transactions, new deposits in these accounts have slowed down in the region. According to information, only Rs 100 crore has been deposited in Jan Dhan accounts from November 23 to November 30 whereas Rs 2,665 crore had been deposited in these accounts from November 9 to November 23.

Though the exact number of accounts which were freezed could not be ascertained, bankers said wherever there were anomalies, they had freezed the accounts.

People close to development said the government’s repetitive announcements that strict action would be taken against those who were using Jan Dhan accounts of farmers and others to deposit their ill-gotten money has also led to decline in deposits.

The total deposits in the region touched Rs 7,129.03 crore as on November 30 while it was Rs 7,029.26 crore as on November 23. The deposits in Jan Dhan accounts in Northern states comprising Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir swelled by 57% after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes on November 8. According to statistics, the total deposits in these accounts as on November 9 were Rs 4,364.03 crore.

Maximum deposits were in Punjab (Rs 55.65 crore) followed by Haryana (Rs 40.29 crore) and Himachal Pradesh (Rs 4.88 crore) during November 23-30. Chandigarh attracted deposits worth Rs 1.14 crore whereas Jammu & Kashmir witnessed decline in deposits.

Interestingly, the number of zero-balance Jan Dhan accounts also increased by 11,498 from November 23 to 30. The total number of zero-balance Jan Dhan account holders was 24,74,749 as on November 30. As on November 30, there were 1,37, 36,668 Jan Dhan accounts in the region. Around 9,113 new accounts were opened during the period.

In order to check the misuse of Jan Dhan accounts by black money hoarders following the demonetisation, the RBI has restricted the withdrawal limit from such accounts to Rs 10,000 per month.