India has overtaken China, Germany and South Africa in terms of financial inclusion under the Modi government due to Jan Dhan Yojana, digital infrastructure and village-to-village open Bank Mitras (BCs).

The SBI report said that mobile and internet banking transactions per 1,000 adults grew more than 74 times to 13,615 in 2020 from just 183 in 2015. The number of bank branches has also increased during this period. There were 13.6 bank branches per 100,000 adults in 2015, which increased to 14.7 in 2020. This number of bank branches is more than Germany, China and South Africa. 

SBI Group Chief Economic Adviser Soumya Kanti Ghosh on the fifth anniversary of demonetisation said that there has been a significant increase in the number of individuals having deposit accounts with banks under the non-frills account scheme (no minimum balance requirement) during the seven years of the financial inclusion drive. which has reached around emerging economies and even some developed economies.

There has also been great progress in the use of digital payments. As on October 20, 2021, the number of non-frills bank accounts has increased to 437 crore, with deposits of Rs 1.46 lakh crore. About two-thirds of these accounts are in rural and semi-urban areas. Over 34 crore or 78 per cent non-frills accounts are in public sector banks, 18.2% in regional rural banks and three per cent in private banks. 

Increased access to banking services in rural areas
Ghosh said that Bank Mitras have an important role to play in increasing the reach of banking services in rural areas. Its impact has also been shown on financial inclusion. According to the report, there were a total of 33,378 bank branches in rural areas as of March 2010, which increased to 55,073 in December 2020. Similarly, the number of Banking Outlets/Bank Mitras in villages also increased from 34,174 to 12.4 lakhs. These Bank Mitras provide banking services for four hours a day at least five days a week.

Decreased crime from Jan Dhan accounts The report said that research also shows that there has been a decline in crime in the states where there is a high number of financial inclusion/Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts. It is also observed that there has been a significant and significant decline in the consumption of narcotics such as alcohol and tobacco products in the states with higher bank accounts.