[Twelve years of PMJDY — assess whether growth in account numbers has translated into meaningful financial deepening.](/upsc-mains-answer/twelve-years-pmjdy-assess-whether-growth-283bc4f)

Launched on 28 August 2014 to "bank the unbanked, secure the unsecured and fund the unfunded" [2], PMJDY now covers over 56 crore accounts [1]. Twelve years on, the real test is not coverage but depth — and here the record is genuine yet uneven.

Evidence of real financial deepening

• Savings mobilised, not just accounts opened: deposits rose from ₹2,00,958 crore (July 2023) to ₹2,67,756 crore by August 2025 [4][1]; over the scheme's life deposits grew roughly 12 times against a 3-fold rise in accounts [1] — money is actually flowing in.
• Behavioural shift: average balance per account stood at ₹4,768, about 3.7 times the 2015 level [1], indicating accounts in active use rather than dormant.
• Digital adoption: transactions climbed from 2,338 crore (FY 2018-19) to 22,198 crore (FY 2024-25), backed by 38.68 crore RuPay cards [1].
• Inclusive spread: 56% of accounts are held by women and 67% are rural/semi-urban [1]; at the decade mark 29.56 crore women were account-holders [2].
• Platform effect: accounts serve as rails for DBT and for cross-selling PMJJBY, PMSBY, APY and MUDRA credit [2].

Where deepening remains shallow

• An average balance below ₹5,000 [1] shows accounts are transactional conduits, not instruments of wealth-building.
• Deepening is deposit- and payments-led; credit deepening lags — overdraft and MUDRA linkages remain supply-driven rather than demand-pulled [2].
• Insurance and pension penetration per account is modest, so "securing the unsecured" trails "banking the unbanked" [2].
• Last-mile dependence on the Business Correspondent network raises viability and dormancy risks in remote areas.

Growth in numbers has therefore translated into partial but substantive deepening: access, savings and payments are transformed, while credit, insurance and advisory depth are unfinished. Strengthening BC viability, financial literacy and small-ticket credit, tracked through the RBI Financial Inclusion Index, can convert inclusion into empowerment — realising SDG 8.10 and the Directive Principles' promise of economic justice.