IBA directs banks to remit Rs 500/month in women Jan Dhan a/cs from April 3

The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) on April 2 directed banks to start depositing Rs 500 per month in the accounts held by women under the 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, IBA said in a statement.

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).

The directive is based on the recent announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to ease the stress of the sections worst hit by the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic in India.

he 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.

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. Similarly in case of accounts with 2 or 3 as the last digits, the date of withdrawal is April 4. Account holders with 4 or 5 as the last digits can withdraw the monthly remittance on April 7, while those with 6 or 7 can withdraw the same on April 8. Lastly, women whose account numbers end with digits 8 or 9 can access the money on April 9.

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.

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

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.