Srinagar, Sep 06: More than one in every four accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has been classified as inoperative, while nearly 5.72 crore accounts have zero balance, according to data disclosed by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, in response to an RTI application.
The RTI response, furnished to activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur, said that as of August 12, 2026, a total of 59,03,74,907 PMJDY accounts were operational across the country, holding a combined balance of ₹3,15,179.90 crore. Of these, 5,72,35,490 accounts had zero balance, while 15,36,77,009 accounts were classified as inoperative, accounting for about 26 per cent of the total.
Women, including transgender account holders, held 32.89 crore of the total PMJDY accounts, while 26.14 crore were held by men. The Centre, however, said it does not centrally maintain gender-wise data on account balances, zero-balance accounts or inoperative accounts.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the updated official PMJDY data shows that the Union Territory had 24,90,012 Jan Dhan accounts as of August 26, 2026, with deposits totalling ₹1,842.52 crore. A total of 16,67,362 RuPay cards had also been issued under the scheme in J&K. The official data does not, however, provide a corresponding J&K-specific breakup of zero-balance and inoperative accounts, and therefore the national figures cannot be directly applied to the Union Territory.
Earlier data placed before Parliament showed that J&K had 24.72 lakh PMJDY accounts as of June 2026, including 14.38 lakh accounts held by women and 10.34 lakh by men, indicating a substantial participation of women in the financial-inclusion programme.
At the national level, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of zero-balance PMJDY accounts at 95.92 lakh, followed by Bihar with 62.35 lakh, West Bengal with 37.20 lakh, Assam with 36.30 lakh and Maharashtra with 36.04 lakh.
Uttar Pradesh also had the highest number of inoperative accounts at 3.23 crore, followed by Bihar with 1.59 crore, Madhya Pradesh with 1.35 crore, West Bengal with 1.02 crore and Maharashtra with 97.94 lakh.
In terms of total PMJDY accounts, Uttar Pradesh topped the country with 10.51 crore accounts, followed by Bihar with 7.01 crore, West Bengal with 5.73 crore, Rajasthan with 3.87 crore and Maharashtra with 3.85 crore.
The PMJDY was launched on August 28, 2014, as the National Mission for Financial Inclusion, with the objective of ensuring universal access to banking facilities, financial literacy and social-security coverage, including access to basic bank accounts for households outside the formal banking system.
The RTI response, dated September 1, also said the Centre does not centrally maintain information on accounts with balances below ₹100, accounts closed during the past five years, or accounts blocked or frozen due to suspicious transactions or cyber fraud.
The state and Union Territory-wise information supplied with the RTI response covered all 36 States and Union Territories. (with inputs from news agency PTI)
