200 Million PMJDY A/Cs of Indian Women to get Covid Relief of Rs 1500

The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) on April 2, 2020 directed banks to start depositing Rs 500 per month in the accounts held by women under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).The remittance under the recently announced Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana will be credited between April 3 and April 9.

The transfer of the monthly remittance will take place in a staggered fashion to ensure social distancing. The said amount will be transferred into the account of beneficiaries for the next three months (i.e. April, May and June 2020).

The IBA has charted out a schedule to be followed by banks while depositing money into the Jan Dhan accounts of women in order to ensure an orderly withdrawal of money. The same will be disbursed into the accounts as per the last digit of the PMJDY account numbers of women.

1. Those with 0 or 1 as the last digits of their Jan Dhan account numbers will be able to withdraw the money from April 3 onwards.

2. Similarly in case of accounts with 2 or 3 as the last digits, the date of withdrawal is April 4.

3. Account holders with 4 or 5 as the last digits can withdraw the monthly remittance on April 7,

4. While those with 6 or 7 can withdraw the same on April 8.

5. Lastly, women whose account numbers end with digits 8 or 9 can access the money on April 9.

6. The IBA said in the statement that there is no need for beneficiaries to rush for withdrawal as the money is being deposited into their bank accounts and can be accessed by them at their convenience.

7. And after April 9th, beneficiaries may withdraw on any day at per their convenience.

IBA also directed their member banks to initiate steps to ensure seamless withdrawal of the amount by individual beneficiaries from their respective accounts. 

Firstly, they may implement a token system at the branches to manage the crowd. For instance, 200 tokens may be issued, depending on the capacity of the branches, to the beneficiaries during the course of a day.

Secondly, customers with RuPay cards may be encouraged to use electronic channels such as ATMs/AePS (Aadhaar-Enabled Payment System) to withdraw cash. 

The IBA also reiterated that the bank should be mindful of the guidelines issued by the DFS. They require that banks ensure adequate liquidity at branches and business correspondents; replenish ATMs on a regular basis to meet requirements; arrange for mobile ATMs wherever required with sufficient cash; and send SMS to beneficiaries regarding

(i) the time schedule for withdrawal

(ii) requesting them to utilise digital payment modes with a view to complying with prescribed Covid-19 safeguards.

Customers have been requested to withdraw money from their neighbourhood ATMs using RuPay cards, Bank Mitras and customer service points (CSPs) as far as possible to avoid overcrowding at the bank branches. As per the present guidelines by the government, no extra charges will be applicable if one withdraws money from the ATM of any other bank.

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