Demonetisation fallout: Jan Dhan deposits rise over 50%

New Delhi: Deposits in Jan Dhan accounts have grown by more than 50 per cent since the demonetisation announcement on November 8, an official statement said on Sunday. "As on December 21, deposits worth Rs 71,557.90 crore had been mobilsed under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)" and that this scheme for financial inclusion had succeeded in opening over 26 crore accounts, said a Finance Ministry statement. The Income Tax Department has earlier reported that total deposits amounted to Rs 45,637 crore on November 9, the day from which Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes ceased to be legal tender, in a move designed by the government to eliminate black money, counterfeit currency and terror financing. As on the eighth day after the announcement, aggregate deposits in Jan Dhan accounts had increased to Rs 64,252.15 crore, Parliament was told during the recent winter session.

The government had, on November 18, warned account holders on not allowing misuse of Jan Dhan accounts for laundering black money post-demonetisation and in its wake, inflows into such accounts had come down significantly, the government has said. In a release early in December, the Finance Ministry said there has been a continuous fall in deposits, after an initial surge post November 8. Total amounts deposited during November 8-15 were Rs 20,206 crore, while during November 16-22, people deposited Rs 11,347 crore in such accounts. This further fell to Rs 4,867 crore during November 23-30. Total daily deposit in Jan Dhan accounts was Rs 410 crore on December 1 and Rs 389 crore on December 2. "The Income Tax Department has identified the local clusters and bank branches where the inflow of Jan Dhan deposits have been more than normal, in order to investigate money deposits in Jan Dhan accounts which belonged to somebody else," an official statement said.