CLAIM
A post on Facebook, by the page The India Eye, claims that around 18 crore bank accounts were opened in one day under the Jan Dhan Yojana, setting a world record.
The translated version of the post reads: “Under the Jan Dhan Yojana, over 32 bank accounts have been opened. Under this scheme, 18 crore bank accounts were opened, setting a world record."
The post has been shared 141 times at the time of writing. Apart from that, modified versions of the post also did the rounds on various groups on Facebook, such as टीम मोदी सपोर्टर, "2019"में भी मोदी सरकार "जय श्री राम”.
TRUE OR FALSE ?
The claims made in the post are partly false — 18 crore accounts were not opened in a single day.
However, the cumulative number of bank accounts opened under the scheme stands at 33.23 crore as of 14 November 2018.
AND WHAT ABOUT THE WORLD RECORD?
No, there’s no ‘world record’ for having opened 18 crore bank accounts in a single day – because that did not happen.
We mapped the number of bank accounts opened from May 2015 – when the first phase of the Jan Dhan Yojana was completed, based on the scheme’s progress report.
On 31 May 2015, the number of accounts under PMJDY stood at 12.54 crore.
The following data maps the growth of bank accounts at an interval of three months till November 2018.
- May 2015: 12.54 crore
- Aug 2015: 17.73 crore
- Nov 2015: 19.27 crore
- Feb 2016: 20.87 crore
- May 2016: 21.86 crore
- Aug 2016: 23.74 crore
- Nov 2016: 25.58 crore
- Feb 2017: 27.63 crore
- May 2017: 28.63 crore
- Aug 2017: 29.51 crore
- Nov 2017: 30.64 crore
- Feb 2018: 31.10 crore
- May 2018: 31.67 crore
- Aug 2018: 32.41 crore
- Nov 2018: 33.23 crore
As indicated by the data above, at no point does the difference between two intervals indicate an amount as large as 18 crore.
Currently, the PMJDY has benefited over 33 crore people, of which almost 20 crore are beneficiaries at rural. semi-urban banks.
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