Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), launched in 2014, has emerged as the biggest instrument of bringing financial inclusion in the country, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this on Friday. Sitharaman, who was delivering the inaugural address at Kautilya Economic Conclave 2023, said benefits under more than 50 government schemes are being directly transferred into the beneficiaries' bank accounts, and PMJDY has played an important role.
She said when the scheme was launched, a certain section of people had made "snide" remarks saying public sector banks would be under pressure as these are zero balance accounts. However, these accounts have a balance of more than Rs 2 lakh crore, Sitharaman said.
In her address, the finance minister spoke elaborately on climate financing and challenges associated with it. She said that multilateral institutions including Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have become less effective in the current global situation.
Sitharaman also highlighted the challenges posed by global terror and stressed that investors and businesses will have to take into account such factors while making investment calls. She further said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is conscious of the debt situation and has undertaken fiscal management to ensure that the coming generation is not burdened.
In the conclave, the minister said the finance ministry is looking at ways to reduce the debt load on the government. "We are conscious of the debt of the Government of India today. Compared to many others it might not be as high as it is. But even there, we are consciously looking at experiments in different parts of the world," the finance minister said.
"Some of the data about some emerging market countries, about how they are managing their debt, is something which is actively in our minds in the ministry (of finance) and we are looking at ways in which we can bring down the overall debt. And we are I am sure going to be very successful in that," she said.