Private Banks should increase participation in financial inclusion schemes: DFS secretary Vivek Joshi
Vivek Joshi said on Tuesday that banks will have to operationalize inoperative accounts, encourage nominations, and create awareness about cyber fraud. There can be more penetration of PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and PM Suraksha Bheema Yojana, he said, making a case for increased participation from private banks in the government's flagship financial inclusion schemes.
«There is a lot of catching up (to be done) by private sector banks with respect to their public sector counterparts in this aspect...I would request that the private sector banks increase their participation in the PMJDY and Jan Suraksha schemes in order to realise the ambitious goals that the government has set,» he said.
In a post on X, the department of financial services under the Ministry of Finance said that Joshi urged all stakeholders to collaborate to build a financially inclusive society.
Joshi noted that 55% of PMJDY accounts are owned by women, and the country is not far from a situation where all the adults in the country will be covered with at least one basic bank account, as at present, we are adding three crore Jan Dhan accounts a year. He was speaking at the Global Inclusive Financial Summit.
Last month, the government took stock of the preparedness of the banks and other financial institutions in tackling the challenges arising from cybersecurity in the financial services sector and increasing digital payment frauds.
The government has already suspended seven million mobile numbers on account of suspicious transactions, financial services secretary Vivek Joshi said.
So far, Rs 900 crore of defrauded money has been saved, benefiting 350,000 victims, the finance ministry noted in a statement.
Banks have been told “to improve the
