When the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana launched in August 2014, its ambition was simple to state and hard to deliver: a basic bank account for every household in India, including the millions who had never held one.
The scale, by the numbers
By 2025, more than 56 crore Jan Dhan accounts had been opened, according to figures given by the government. Deposits in these accounts crossed ₹2.63 lakh crore in April 2025, and later figures cited combined balances above ₹2.75 lakh crore, a sign that account holders are keeping their savings in the formal banking system rather than only using the accounts to receive one time transfers.
Why a bank account changed more than banking
A Jan Dhan account became the base layer for a wider system: direct benefit transfers that reach a person's own account instead of passing through middlemen, an attached accident insurance cover, and, for many first time account holders, a RuPay debit card that opened the door to digital payments. Seva schemes built after 2014, from cooking gas subsidies to crop insurance payouts, lean on this same bank account infrastructure to reach people directly.
Twelve years on
Jan Dhan marked twelve years in 2026. The scheme is no longer only about opening accounts. The figures on deposits, insurance claims paid and digital transactions routed through these accounts are now the better measure of whether financial inclusion actually took hold.