World Bank: India's 48% bank accounts inactive, thanks to Modi's Jan Dhan

By Rajiv Shah
India may have sharply increased the number of bank accounts following Prime Minister Narendra Modi coming to power. However, regrettably, India has the largest share of inactive accounts, too. A just-released World Bank survey, which provides this crucial detail alongside several others, says, "Account owners with an inactive account varies across economies, but it is especially high In India."
Saying that the share of inactive accounts in India is 48 percent, "the highest in the world and about twice the average of 25 percent for developing economies", the World Bank seeks to blame Modi's policies for this. Titled "The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fin-tech Revolution", the survey report says, "Part of the explanation might be India’s Jan Dhan Yojana scheme, developed by the government to increase account ownership."
Authored by Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli, Leora Klapper, Dorothe Singer, Saniya Ansar, and Jake Hess, further referring to the Jan Dhan scheme, the report states, "Launched in August 2014, the programme had brought an additional 310 million Indians into the formal banking system by March 2018", but laments many of them "might not yet have had an opportunity to use their new account."

As against India's 48 percent inactive accounts, as observed over the last 12 months, the report states, "In Afghanistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka about a third of account owners have an inactive account, while in Bangladesh 21 percent do. And Pakistan has a rate of just 13 percent, though it also has a low rate of account ownership compared with other economies in the region." It adds, "In high-income economies only 4 percent of account owners have an inactive account."
The World Bank’s triennial Global Findex report, as the study is identified alternatively, it is based on a survey of more than 150,000 representative individuals, claiming to provide a bird's-eye view of patterns and regularities in data pertaining to finance and financial inclusion – such as saving behavior, use of mobile money, and preferred modes of sending and receiving remittances – in 140 economies.
Pointing towards the existence of gender gap in inactive accounts, the report says, "In developing economies female account owners are on average 5 percentage points more likely than male account owners to have an inactive account. In India, however, this gender gap is about twice as large: while 54 percent of women with an account reported having made no deposit or withdrawal in the past year, only 43 percent of men with an account did so."

The report also points out that in developing economies "76 percent of adults with an inactive account have a mobile phone, including 66 percent in India", though adding, "This represents an opportunity for expanding the use of accounts through digital technology."
According to the report, "Indeed, having an account does not necessarily imply that people save at all. Globally, 42 percent of account owners reported not having saved any money in the past year. In high-income economies 26 percent of account owners reported not having saved any money. And in Brazil, India, Russia, and Turkey — all economies where about 70 percent or more of adults have an account — about 60 percent reported not saving at all."

Comments

Hari Desai said…

Unfortunately, the opposition is unable to convey failures of Modi govt and Modi sena talks about 2022 showing new dreams.

May 26, 2018

Grueling summer ahead: Cuttack’s alarming health trends and what they mean for Odisha

By Sudhansu R Das The preparation to face the summer should begin early in Odisha. People in the state endure long, grueling summer months starting from mid-February and extending until the end of October. This prolonged heat adversely affects productivity, causes deaths and diseases, and impacts agriculture, tourism and the unorganized sector. The social, economic and cultural life of the state remains severely disrupted during the peak heat months.

Concerns raised over move to rename MGNREGA, critics call it politically motivated

By A Representative Concerns have been raised over the Union government’s reported move to rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), with critics describing it as a politically motivated step rather than an administrative reform. They argue that the proposed change undermines the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and seeks to appropriate credit for a programme whose relevance has been repeatedly demonstrated, particularly during times of crisis.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

MG-NREGA: A global model still waiting to be fully implemented

By Bharat Dogra When the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MG-NREGA) was introduced in India nearly two decades ago, it drew worldwide attention. The reason was evident. At a time when states across much of the world were retreating from responsibility for livelihoods and welfare, the world’s second most populous country—with nearly two-thirds of its people living in rural or semi-rural areas—committed itself to guaranteeing 100 days of employment a year to its rural population.

Why India must urgently strengthen its policies for an ageing population

By Bharat Dogra A quiet but far-reaching demographic transformation is reshaping much of the world. As life expectancy rises and birth rates fall, societies are witnessing a rapid increase in the proportion of older people. This shift has profound implications for public policy, and the need to strengthen frameworks for healthy and secure ageing has never been more urgent. India is among the countries where these pressures will intensify most sharply in the coming decades.

School job scam and the future of university degree holders in West Bengal

By Harasankar Adhikari The school recruitment controversy in West Bengal has emerged as one of the most serious governance challenges in recent years, raising concerns about transparency, institutional accountability, and the broader impact on society. Allegations that school jobs were obtained through irregular means have led to prolonged legal scrutiny, involving both the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court of India. In one instance, a panel for high school teacher recruitment was ultimately cancelled after several years of service, following extended judicial proceedings and debate.

India’s Halal economy 'faces an uncertain future' under the new food Bill

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The proposed Food Safety and Standards (Amendment) Bill, 2025 marks a decisive shift in India’s food regulation landscape by seeking to place Halal certification exclusively under government control while criminalising all private Halal certification bodies. Although the Bill claims to promote “transparency” and “standardisation,” its structure and implications raise serious concerns about religious freedom, economic marginalisation, and the systematic dismantling of a long-established, Muslim-led Halal ecosystem in India.

Women’s rights alliance seeks NCW action against Nitish Kumar over public veil incident

By A Representative An alliance of women’s rights activists has urged the National Commission for Women (NCW) to initiate legal action against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over an incident at a public function in Patna that they allege amounted to a grave violation of a Muslim woman’s dignity and constitutional rights. In a detailed complaint dated December 18, the All India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA), part of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), sought the NCW’s immediate intervention following an episode on December 15 during the distribution of appointment letters to newly recruited AYUSH doctors in Patna.

Search This Blog