Jan Dhan Accounts Overdraft Limit Doubled: Meaning, Benefits Explained Here

A bank account under financial inclusion scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) can be opened in any bank branch or business correspondent outlet. PMJDY is a government-run financial inclusion scheme aimed at ensuring access to services such as banking, savings, deposits, remittance, credit, insurance and pension at an affordable price. Bank accounts under the Jan Dhan scheme can be opened with zero balance. In other words, the account holder need not maintain any particular account balance to keep the account account. The government recently doubled the overdraft limit on Jan Dhan accounts. The overdraft limit of Jan Dhan accounts now stands at Rs 10,000, double than the previous limit of Rs 5,000, according to an official statement released last week.

But what is the meaning of overdraft facility under Jan Dhan accounts and how can you avail it?

Jan Dhan Account overdraft facility - meaning
An overdraft facility up to Rs.10,000 is available to one account holder of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana per household after six months of satisfactory conduct of the account. To avoid duplication, the Aadhaar number has been made mandatory. In case an Aadhaar number is not available, the bank will do additional due diligence and seek declaration from the beneficiary.

The government also said that now there will not be any conditions attached for overdraft up to Rs 2,000. The age limit for availing the overdraft facility on Jan Dhan accounts has been revised from 18-60 years to 18-65 years, the statement said.

Accidental insurance cover for new Jan Dhan account holders increased
Accidental insurance cover for new RuPay card holders has been raised from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts opened after August 28, 2018, according to the government.

Facilities of Jan Dhan accounts
A Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA) under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana does not require maintenance of any minimum or monthly balance. Customers get the facility of ATM card or ATM-cum-debit card without any extra cost. Withdrawals, however, are subject to certain limits.

Beneficiaries of government schemes get Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) in these accounts. This means that their subsidies get directly transferred in their Jan Dhan accounts.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was launched in August 2014. Approximately, 32.41 crore Jan Dhan accounts have been opened with more than Rs 81,200 crore of deposit balance, said the government.

Who can open Jan Dhan Yojana account?
If an applicant has an Aadhaar card/Aadhaar card number - this is the 12-digit Unique Identification Number (UID) issued by the UIDAI or Unique Identification Authority of India, no other documents are required. If the address, however, has been changed, a self-certification of the current address is sufficient.

If Aadhaar card is not available, then any one of the following documents is required: voter ID card, driving licence, PAN card, passport and NREGA card. If the document also contains the applicant's address, it can serve both as proof of identity as well as address.

If a person does not have any of these officially valid documents mentioned above, but he/she is categorized as 'low-risk' by banks, then he/she can open a Jan Dhan account by submitting any one of the following documents:

a) Identity card with his/her photograph issued by central/state government departments, statutory/regulatory authorities, public sector undertakings, scheduled commercial banks and public financial institutions; b) Letter issued by a gazette officer, with a duly attested photograph of the person.