New Delhi: Government proposes to further strengthen its national mission on financial inclusion under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) by extending facilities for microinsurance including life and accident cover for all accounts holders under the scheme.

In its eighth year of operation, the Union government plans to enhance the programme by putting account holders into a digital transaction platform by allowing PMJDY account holders to use Ru- Pay debit cards through the establishment of acceptance infrastructure across India.

PMJDY account holders will also have easier access to Micro-credit and micro-investment options such as Flexi-recurring deposits.

The enhancements are being considered for expanding the scope of this financial inclusion initiative, which has expanded in size over time, with total PMJDY accounts at 43.04 crores as of August 18. Only 8.2 percent of PMJDY accounts have zero balances, accounting for 36.86 crores (85.6%) of total accounts.

The entire amount of money in PMJDY accounts is Rs 1,46,230 crore. Between August 2015 and August 21, deposits in these accounts grew 6.38 times, while accounts increased 2.4 times.

"The path of PMJDY-led initiatives over a seven-year period has resulted in both transformational and directional change in the growing FI ecosystem, making it capable of offering financial services to the very last individual in society—the poorest of the poor. The underpinning pillars of PMJDY, namely Banking the Unbanked, Securing the Unsecured, and Funding the Unfunded, have enabled multi-stakeholder collaboration while leveraging technology to serve the unserved and underserved areas "On the seventh anniversary of PMJDY, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched PMJDY, one of the world's largest financial inclusion initiatives, in his Independence Day address on August 15, 2014. The Prime Minister called the event as a celebration to commemorate the poor's emancipation from a vicious cycle when he launched the initiative on August 28.