Hyderabad: Lakhs of bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana have become dormant in Telangana state and across the country too.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed banks to look into these dormant accounts for suspicious transactions during the demonetisation period and activate them if found to be genuine.
There were 26 lakh zero balance Jan Dhan accounts in the state prior to demonetisation in November 2016.
State, banks told to verify accounts
Lakhs of bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana have become dormant in Telangana state and across the country.
The 26 lakh zero balance accounts have come down to 20 lakh post-demonetisation. Nearly 15 lakh have turned dormant recently. More than seven crore dormant accounts were found across the country.
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's directions, the department of financial services obtained data from all the states. The TS data revealed that as on October 11, 2017, 88,07,375 Jan Dhan accounts were opened, which together have an account balance of '1,289 crore.
With 15.6 lakh accounts turning dormant after receiving deposits during demonetisation last year, officials could issue RuPay cards to only 71,69,531 account holders.
The PM held a monthly video conference with secretaries of central departments and chief secretaries of states on Wednesday last, in which this data was shared by all states.
“PM asked bankers to activate dormant accounts which are genuine after inquiry within a month. He asked all states and bankers to take up this verification exercise on priority,” an official said.
