One in four Jan Dhan accounts do not work; 5.72 crore has zero balance: RTI

People waiting in queue to get relief amount under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana during COVID-19 | Photo credit: KVS Giri

One in four accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana are non-functional, while nearly 5.72 lakh accounts had zero balance, according to an RTI reply.

Over 59 million accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) held a combined balance of over ₹ 3.15 crore as on 12 August 2026.

The Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, in its reply to activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur’s RTI application, said there are 59,03,74,907 PMJDY accounts across the country with a total balance of ₹3,15,179.90 crore.

Of the total accounts, 32.89 crore were held by women, including transgender account holders, while 26.14 crore were held by men.

The data showed that 5,72,35,490 PMJDY accounts had zero balance while 15,36,77,009 accounts were classified as non-functional.

PMJDY as started operations as the National Mission for Financial Inclusion in August 2014. Its goal is to ensure comprehensive financial inclusion of all households in the country by providing universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic bank account for each household, financial literacy and social security.

Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of zero balance PMJDY accounts at 95.92 lakh, followed by Bihar (62.35 lakh), West Bengal (37.20 lakh), Assam (36.30 lakh) and Maharashtra (36.04 lakh).

The five states with the highest number of inactive PMJDY accounts were Uttar Pradesh (3.23 million), Bihar (1.59 million), Madhya Pradesh (1.35 million), West Bengal (1.02 million) and Maharashtra (97.94 million).

Uttar Pradesh also had the highest total number of PMJDY accounts at 10.51 million, followed by Bihar with 7.01 million accounts, West Bengal with 5.73 million accounts, Rajasthan with 3.87 million accounts and Maharashtra with 3.85 million accounts.

An RTI reply dated September 1 said the center does not centrally maintain gender bifurcation of PMJDY account balances, zero balance accounts and non-functional accounts.

It also said that information on accounts with balances below ₹100, accounts closed in the last five years and accounts blocked or frozen due to suspicious transactions or cyber fraud was not maintained centrally.

The state-wise data provided with the RTI response included 36 states and Union territories.

Published – 06 Sep 2026 11:50 IST