Jan Dhan: Jaitley Says Probe Ordered Into Bankers Depositing Money

Bankers are allegedly depositing Re 1 in the Jan Dhan accounts to reduce the number of zero-balance accounts.

Concerned public sector banks are investigating implementation of the Jan Dhan scheme to check if business correspondents had deposited funds in some accounts rather than the depositors themselves, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after a review meeting with bank chiefs.

In case of few accounts, this issue has arisen and there are names of four banks. We have asked them. The banks are investigating from their branches whether account holders have put in money or business correspondents have done it. After that, the banks will give their report to the Department of Financial Services.

Arun Jaitley

Jaitley was responding to a question on media report alleging that bankers in some branches of Punjab and Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India have themselves deposited Re 1 in the Jan Dhan accounts to reduce the number of zero-balance accounts.

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