The government has said that 15.09 crore Jan Dhan accounts are currently inoperative across the country, out of a total of 57.07 crore accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).
The information was shared in a written reply by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in the Lok Sabha.
Under the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines, a savings or current account is classified as inoperative or dormant if there are no customer-initiated transactions for over two years.
Balances that remain unclaimed for ten years, including unclaimed term deposits and other eligible credits, must be transferred by banks to the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund maintained by the RBI.
The Minister clarified that data on the number of inoperative Jan Dhan accounts held by women, or those from rural and semi-urban areas, is not centrally maintained.
The reply further stated that customers can reactivate an inoperative account at any time—before or after the ten-year mark—by completing the prescribed KYC requirements.
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If an unclaimed amount has already been transferred to the DEA Fund, banks are required to repay the customer, along with applicable interest, and subsequently claim the amount back from the Fund.
The Centre also said it does not centrally track the number of PMJDY accounts with balances below ₹500.
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