Finance ministry to meet heads of public sector banks on Thursday; to review progress of various schemes

The finance ministry has called a meeting of heads of public sector banks and financial institutions to review the progress of various social sector schemes, including Jan Dhan, Mudra, KCC, and PM SVANidhi. The meeting with managing director and CEOs of public sector banks is scheduled to be held on January 19 and largely for reviewing the schemes to promote financial inclusion, sources said.

The saturation under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) would be reviewed in the meeting to be chaired by Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi.

Besides, progress in Prime Minister Street Vendors’ AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme will be reviewed. The government has extended the scheme till December 2024.

PM SVANidhi scheme was launched on June 1, 2020 by the ministry of housing and urban affairs to help street vendors, who were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, resume their livelihood activities. The scheme aims to provide working capital loans up to Rs 10,000 at a subsidised rate of interest.

Sources also said that the targets and achievements of Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana will also be reviewed.

Last year, the government had raised the premium for its flagship insurance schemes — PMJJBY and PMSBY — in order to make them economically viable.

The premium rate of PMJJBY has been revised upward to Rs 1.25 per day, translating into an increase from Rs 330 to Rs 436 annually. The annual premium for PMSBY has been hiked from Rs 12 to Rs 20. In addition, there would be reviews of Mudra Yojana and Stand up India scheme.

Launched in 2015, the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) aims to provide loans up to Rs 10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises.

Sources said the meeting will also discuss the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) given to beneficiaries.

To enable universal access to concessional institutional credit, the government had initiated a drive in mission mode for saturating all PM-KISAN beneficiaries with KCC.