Archive · 7 Sep 2026
RTI Finds One in Four Jan Dhan Accounts Inoperative
The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana helps people open basic bank accounts.
Government data showed that India had more than 59 crore such accounts as of August 12, 2026.
Together, the accounts held about Rs 3.15 lakh crore.
About 15.37 crore accounts were called inoperative, meaning they had not had certain customer-initiated transactions for a specified period.
About 5.72 crore accounts had no money in them.
An inoperative account and a zero-balance account are different things.
Uttar Pradesh had the most accounts in both categories and the largest total account base.
The government said it does not centrally keep several other details about these accounts.
India had 59,03,74,907 PMJDY accounts holding Rs 3,15,179.90 crore as of August 12, 2026.
A total of 15,36,77,009 accounts, or about 26%, were classified as inoperative.
Another 5,72,35,490 accounts had zero balances; these categories should not be added together.
Women, including transgender account holders, held 32.89 crore accounts, compared with 26.14 crore held by men.
Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of total, zero-balance and inoperative PMJDY accounts.
- Who
- The Department of Financial Services under the Ministry of Finance provided data in response to an RTI application by activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur.
- What
- The RTI response disclosed the number, balances, zero-balance status and inoperative status of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts.
- When
- The account data was recorded as of August 12, 2026; the RTI response was dated September 1.
- Where
- Across 36 Indian states and Union territories.
- Why
- The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana aims to expand financial inclusion through banking access, financial literacy, direct benefit transfers and social security schemes.
- Total PMJDY accounts
- 59,03,74,907
- Combined balance
- Rs 3,15,179.90 crore as of August 12, 2026
- Inoperative accounts
- 15,36,77,009, or around 26% of all accounts
- Zero-balance accounts
- 5,72,35,490
- Account holders by gender
- 32.89 crore accounts were held by women, including transgender account holders; 26.14 crore were held by men
- Largest account base
- Uttar Pradesh, with 10.51 crore accounts
- Scheme launch
- August 2014
- Unavailable centralized data
- Gender-wise balances, accounts below Rs 100, accounts closed in the past five years, and accounts blocked or frozen for suspicious transactions or cyber fraud
