Saturation Campaign of Financial Inclusion (FI) Schemes to Run from 21st October 2026 to 31st December 2026

1. At a Glance

• A nationwide saturation drive run by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance. Banks hold camps at Gram Panchayat (GP) and Urban Local Body (ULB) level to enrol people in FI and social-security schemes and to clean up KYC and nomination records. [1]
• It covers 2.70 lakh GPs and ULBs from 21.10.2026 to 31.12.2026. [1]
• It brings together the "JAM-plus" stack in one place: Jan Dhan accounts (PMJDY), micro-insurance (PMJJBY, PMSBY), pensions (APY), farm credit (KCC) and crop insurance (PMFBY). [1]
• UPSC relevance: financial inclusion, last-mile delivery, social security for the informal sector, digital fraud awareness and unclaimed assets all overlap here, which makes it useful for both GS-II and GS-III.

2. Why in the News

• 19 Oct 2026: PIB Delhi announced the campaign. A preparatory meeting with the senior management of banks and SLBCs was held the same day, chaired by JS (FI), DFS. [1]
• This edition goes beyond the 2025 campaign. It adds KCC sourcing for PM-Kisan beneficiaries and PMFBY enrolment for the Rabi season. [1][3]

3. Background & Evolution

• Rationale: to empower citizens at the last mile and bring them into the formal financial system. [1]
• Predecessor, 2025 edition: DFS ran a nationwide saturation campaign from 1 July to 30 Sept 2025. It aimed to cover all GPs and ULBs for PMJDY, PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY, plus re-verification of KYC. [3]
• 2025 implementation model: camps were run by SLBCs and lead banks. In Goa, for example, the camps were run by SLBC Goa, SBI and Bank of Maharashtra, with RBI and NABARD taking part. [2][3]
• 2025 progress marker: by 11 Sept 2025, 165 GPs in Goa had been covered for saturation of the "Jansuraksha schemes" and re-KYC. [2]
• 2025 linked messaging: awareness on unclaimed deposits, grievance redressal (the RBI Ombudsman) and cyber frauds. [3]
• 2026 edition: a shorter window of roughly 10 weeks, a larger list of activities, and an explicit 2.70 lakh GP/ULB target. [1]

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Fact
Organiser	Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance [1]
Duration	21.10.2026 – 31.12.2026 [1]
Coverage	2.70 lakh GPs and ULBs [1]
Delivery channel	Bank camps at GP/ULB level [1]
Coordination	Banks + SLBC; preparatory meeting chaired by JS (FI), DFS [1]
Monitoring	State administration, banks and DFS [1]

The 10 campaign activities [1]:

1. Enrolment under PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY
2. Aadhaar seeding in PMJJBY and PMSBY
3. Opening of PMJDY accounts
4. Re-KYC of existing PMJDY and other savings accounts
5. Generating C-KYC IDs where pending
6. Updating nominations in savings accounts and lockers
7. Awareness on FI schemes, digital frauds and "Aapki Poonji, Aapka Adhikar" (unclaimed financial assets)
8. Sourcing KCC applications, to saturate eligible PM-Kisan beneficiaries
9. Enrolment under PMFBY, to support KCC saturation for the Rabi season
10. (The overall framing is "FI schemes and other key interventions".)

Related tool: the RBI UDGAM portal lets users search for unclaimed deposits across banks using the account holder's name, the bank name and one ID, such as PAN, driving licence or date of birth. [3]

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Economic

• Bringing households into the formal financial system widens the deposit base and the reach of credit. [1]
• KCC saturation for PM-Kisan beneficiaries links income support to institutional farm credit. This reduces dependence on informal lenders. [1]
• Pairing PMFBY with KCC before the Rabi season reduces crop-risk exposure on farm loans. [1]

Social

• Micro life insurance (PMJJBY), accident insurance (PMSBY) and pensions (APY) give a social-security floor to informal-sector households. [1]
• Nomination updates and unclaimed-asset awareness protect families' claims to their own money. They target the problem of dormant or orphaned deposits. [1][3]

Governance / Administrative

• The model is a saturation approach, aiming at 100% coverage of eligible people rather than meeting targets. It is delivered at the GP/ULB unit. [1][2]
• It is a multi-level monitoring design (State administration, banks and DFS) that relies on the SLBC framework. [1][3]
• Re-KYC keeps accounts active for DBT credits; DFS linked KYC submission directly to receiving DBT transfers online. [2]

Scientific / Technological

• Aadhaar seeding and C-KYC ID generation (a central KYC record) improve data hygiene and portability between institutions. [1]
• Digital-fraud awareness reflects the risks that come with fast digital-payment adoption. [1][3]

Federal / Institutional

• A Centre-led drive is carried out through State administrations, SLBCs, district collectorates and panchayats. Panchayats and collectorates were explicitly asked to support the 2025 camps. [1][3]

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 1 Jul – 30 Sep 2025: first nationwide DFS saturation campaign, covering PMJDY, PMJJBY, PMSBY, APY and re-KYC. [3]
• 10 Sep 2025: camp at Varca, Salcete (South Goa) run by SLBC Goa. RBI promoted the UDGAM portal and the RBI Ombudsman. [3]
• 11 Sep 2025: 165 GPs covered in Goa; camp at Cumbharjua, Tiswadi (North Goa) run by SBI with Bank of Maharashtra. [2]
• 19 Oct 2026: 2026 campaign announced; preparatory meeting with banks and SLBCs. [1]
• 21 Oct 2026: campaign begins; it ends 31 Dec 2026. [1]

7. Prelims Hooks

• The campaign is organised by the Department of Financial Services, not by RBI or NABARD. [1]
• 2026 campaign window: 21 Oct – 31 Dec 2026. [1]
• Coverage: 2.70 lakh Gram Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies. [1]
• Aadhaar seeding is listed specifically for PMJJBY and PMSBY, not for APY. [1]
• Re-KYC covers existing PMJDY and other savings accounts. [1]
• Nomination updates cover savings accounts and lockers. [1]
• "Aapki Poonji, Aapka Adhikar" is the awareness theme on unclaimed financial assets. [1]
• KCC applications are sourced to saturate eligible PM-Kisan beneficiaries. [1]
• PMFBY enrolment is tied to the Rabi season. [1]
• The preparatory meeting was chaired by the Joint Secretary (Financial Inclusion), DFS. [1]
• The previous edition ran from 1 July to 30 Sept 2025. [3]
• UDGAM is RBI's portal for searching unclaimed deposits across banks. [3]
• Grievances not resolved by a bank go to the RBI Ombudsman. [3]

8. Opening an Account Is Not the Same as Using It

• Crores of Jan Dhan accounts hold no money at all
• On 22 Nov 2023, about 4.30 crore PMJDY accounts had a zero balance [4].
• The scheme does not require a minimum balance, so an account can stay empty for years [4].

• Such an account counts as "included" in the data. But the family is not saving, borrowing or insuring itself through it.

• About one account in five was not being used

• RBI treats an account as inoperative (not in use) when the customer makes no transaction of their own for over two years [5].
• In Aug 2022, only 37.57 crore of 46.25 crore PMJDY accounts (81.2%) were operative. That left nearly 8.7 crore accounts unused [5].

• Activity 3 of the campaign opens even more new accounts [1]. If the old ones stay unused, the pile of empty accounts only grows.

• RBI's own scorecard rewards use, not opening

• RBI's FI-Index (Financial Inclusion Index, a score from 0 to 100) has three parts: Access 35%, Usage 45% and Quality 20% [9].
• The score rose from 64.2 (Mar 2024) to 67.0 (Mar 2025). RBI says the rise came from Usage and Quality, not from Access [9].
• So access is mostly done. Future gains depend on people actually using their accounts, and a count of camp enrolments cannot measure that.

9. Today's Dormant Account Is Tomorrow's Unclaimed Money

• How a person's money slowly becomes "unclaimed"
• First, two years with no transaction by the customer makes the account inoperative [5].
• If the money is still unclaimed after 10 years, the bank moves it to RBI's DEA Fund (Depositor Education and Awareness Fund). The owner or their heirs can still claim it back later [8].

• So every zero-balance or unused Jan Dhan account today could become part of the unclaimed pile in the future.

• The pile is much bigger than what has been returned

• The DEA Fund held ₹60,518 crore on 31 Jan 2026 [7].
• By 28 Feb 2026, unclaimed financial assets of ₹5,777 crore had been returned against 22.95 lakh claims [7].

• A caution: the returned figure covers deposits, insurance, mutual funds and shares together, while the DEA figure covers bank deposits only. So the two do not match exactly. Even so, all returns put together come to less than one-tenth of the bank deposit pile alone.

• Why the nomination update matters more than the awareness talk

• If an account holder dies with no nominee recorded, the family has no simple way to get the money, and may not even know the account exists.
• Activity 6, updating nominations for savings accounts and lockers [1], fixes this before the money is lost.
• UDGAM [3] and "Aapki Poonji, Aapka Adhikar" [1] help only after the money is already lost. Fixing it at the start is cheaper than searching for it later.

10. Why the Same Tasks Come Back in Every Campaign

• Re-KYC is needed again within about 15 months
• Re-KYC was a main task in the Jul–Sep 2025 campaign [3] and is a main task again in 2026 [1].
• This suggests that normal bank branches are not keeping KYC up to date on their own. The camp is filling a gap that routine work leaves open.

• DFS says it already "constantly monitors" inoperative PMJDY accounts and has told banks to contact the account holders [6]. A national camp is still needed, which shows how far that routine follow-up falls short.

• The 2026 timetable is very tight

• 2.70 lakh GPs and ULBs must be covered between 21 Oct and 31 Dec 2026, about 72 days [1].
• That is roughly 3,750 GPs/ULBs every day across India, with ten activities at each camp [1].

• The risk is that a camp turns into a one-day visit to tick boxes, with no follow-up afterwards.

• Progress is counted in places covered, not lives changed

• The 2025 progress report counted how many GPs had been covered, such as 165 in Goa [2].

• That tells us where camps were held. It does not tell us how many accounts became active or how many claims were paid.

• The fair defence of campaign mode, and where it stops

• Some tasks need the customer to be present only once: Aadhaar seeding, C-KYC ID generation and nomination updates [1]. For these, a camp at the doorstep is the right tool, and it is honest to admit this.
• The weakness is with tasks that depend on habit, like using an account regularly or renewing insurance. A one-time camp cannot create a habit.

11. What DFS, Banks and RBI Should Do Next

• DFS should report results the way RBI's FI-Index measures them
• Report how many inoperative accounts became active again, how many nominations were added and how many claims were settled. Do not report only "camps held".

• The FI-Index already gives the most weight (45%) to Usage [9]. The campaign's report card should match it.

• Banks and SLBCs should bring a list of names to every camp

• DFS has already asked banks to contact the holders of inoperative accounts [6].

• Each camp could get, in advance, the list of zero-balance and inoperative accounts in that GP. Staff could then reactivate those accounts and update their nominations on the spot, instead of only opening new ones.

• RBI, IRDAI and SEBI should keep searching for unclaimed money together

• Their joint push covers unclaimed bank deposits, insurance and investments in one drive [7].
• A family that lost a member needs one place to search for all of that person's money, not three separate systems.

12. Anchors for Answers

• Data: About 4.30 crore PMJDY accounts had zero balance (22 Nov 2023), which shows how many accounts are opened but not used [4]
• Data: In Aug 2022, 81.2% of 46.25 crore PMJDY accounts were operative, so nearly one in five was not in use [5]
• Data: The DEA Fund held ₹60,518 crore (31 Jan 2026), while ₹5,777 crore of unclaimed assets had been returned (28 Feb 2026) [7]
• Data: The FI-Index rose to 67.0 in Mar 2025 from 64.2, driven by Usage and Quality. Usage carries 45% of the weight [9]
• Report/Committee: RBI, National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2025–30 [10]
• Law/Case: Depositor Education and Awareness Fund Scheme, 2014. Deposits unclaimed for 10 years move to the RBI fund, and owners can still claim them back [8]
• Scheme: RBI UDGAM portal, a single search for unclaimed deposits across banks. It helps after money is lost, while nomination updates stop it from being lost [3]

13. Mains Relevance

• GS-II: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections and how they perform; role of PRIs and ULBs in service delivery.
• GS-III: Inclusive growth; mobilisation of resources; banking sector; farm credit and crop insurance; cyber security (digital frauds).
• Question stems: 1. Saturation campaigns mark a shift from target-based to entitlement-based welfare delivery. Examine with reference to recent financial-inclusion drives. 2. Access to a bank account is necessary but not sufficient for financial inclusion. Discuss the role of insurance, pensions and credit linkages in deepening inclusion. 3. Unclaimed financial assets and digital frauds are emerging challenges to trust in formal finance. Suggest institutional measures to address them.

14. Related Topics to Study Next

• PMJDY: it is the base layer; the campaign opens new accounts and re-KYCs old ones.
• Jan Suraksha schemes (PMJJBY, PMSBY, APY): the main enrolment targets of the camps.
• Kisan Credit Card and PM-Kisan: the campaign links PM-Kisan beneficiaries to KCC saturation.
• PMFBY: Rabi-season crop-insurance enrolment is part of the drive.
• RBI UDGAM and the unclaimed-deposits framework: the basis of "Aapki Poonji, Aapka Adhikar".
• CKYC / Central KYC Records Registry: the C-KYC ID generation component.
• SLBC and the Lead Bank Scheme: the institutional channel for running the camps.
• RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme: the grievance-redressal backstop.

15. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Financial inclusion (Economy): The campaign's whole aim is bringing people into the formal financial system through accounts, insurance, pensions and credit.
• Kisan Credit Card (Economy): The drive sources KCC applications so eligible PM-Kisan farmers get institutional farm credit instead of moneylenders.
• Crop insurance (Economy): PMFBY enrolment before the Rabi season is paired with KCC to cover farmers' crop risk.
• Social security (Economy): PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY give informal-sector households insurance and pensions they otherwise lack.
• Aadhaar (Polity): Aadhaar seeding in insurance schemes and DBT-linked re-KYC depend on this identity number.
• Financial fraud (Economy): The camps run awareness on digital frauds, one of the campaign's listed activities.

16. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Wrong organiser: the campaign belongs to DFS (Ministry of Finance). RBI and NABARD only take part. [1][2]
• Mixing up the editions: 2025 ran Jul–Sep and focused on the four core schemes. 2026 runs Oct–Dec and adds KCC, PMFBY, C-KYC and nominations. [1][3]
• Aadhaar seeding scope: the release names PMJJBY and PMSBY only. [1]
• Coverage unit: the campaign counts GPs + ULBs (2.70 lakh), not districts or blocks, and it is not limited to rural GPs. [1]
• UDGAM vs "Aapki Poonji, Aapka Adhikar": UDGAM is an RBI portal, while the other is an awareness theme. [1][3]