RBI undertakes major drive to broaden financial inclusion, re-verify KYC across rural India

More than 600,000 Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and nearly 1.2 million Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) accounts have been opened within a month following the launch of a campaign by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) across the country. The campaign also saw the opening of more than 700,000 enrolments in Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and 300,000 under Atal Pension Yojana (APY).

Launched on July 1, the Gram Panchayat (GP)-level campaign to promote financial inclusion (FI) schemes and re-verify Know Your Customer (KYC) information for bank accounts aims to enhance financial inclusion and ensure up-to-date customer information across rural India.

More than 105,000 camps covering nearly one-third of all GPs were organised in the first month of the campaign, RBI stated. Additionally, 1.42 million bank accounts have completed re-verification of KYC through the door-to-door strategy. The campaign will run until September 30.

As part of the initiative, banks will continue to conduct camps at the GP level to provide doorstep services to re-verify KYC of existing PMJDY accounts as well as other bank accounts.

Moreover, the campaign also initiated the opening of PMJDY accounts for unbanked adults and enrolment under social security schemes such as PMSBY, PMJJBY, and APY. The camps are being used to create awareness about unclaimed deposits and to address grievances.

Meanwhile, anticipating extensive coverage in the coming months, the central bank has allowed banks to engage business correspondents in the re-KYC process.