Banks enrol 63 mn people under Jan Suraksha schemes

Banks have enrolled 63.3 million people under the three Jan Suraksha schemes — Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY). State Bank of India (SBI) had highest enrolments at 16.8 million, as of May 11.These schemes were officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 9 but the pilot project had started earlier.

PMJJBY offers is a term life insurance scheme, renewable from year to year, offering life insurance cover for death due to any reason. Here, all savings bank account holders in the 18-50 age group can join. Premium payable is Rs 330 a year.

PMSBY is an accident insurance scheme of Rs 2 lakh sum assured with premium of Rs 12 a year. The accident cover of the member will terminate on attaining age 70 years or due to closure of account with bank or insufficiency of balance to keep insurance in force.

APY is available to unorganised sector workers. Under the APY, guaranteed minimum pension of  Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000, Rs 3,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000 a month will be given at the age of 60 years, depending on the contributions by the subscribers.

Data from the Jan Suraksha portal shows SBI is followed by Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India and Central Bank of India with respect to enrolments. Similarly, private banks including ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have played an active role in enrolment of their account-holders into these schemes.

Under the insurance schemes, if someone is covered through more than one account and premium is received by the insurer inadvertently, insurance cover will be restricted to Rs 2 lakh and the premium would be liable to be forfeited.