29% Jan Dhan accounts inoperative in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: Though Gujarat has crossed two crore PM Jan Dhan accounts, 57.50 lakh accounts, or 28.6% of the total, are classified as inoperative, as per the latest RTI data issued by the Department of Financial Services.

Despite Gujarat recording a lower zero-balance share and higher average account balance than the national average, nearly three in every 10 accounts being inoperative raises questions over the active use and continuity of financial-inclusion accounts.

The reply was issued to RTI applicant Chandra Shekhar Gaur of Madhya Pradesh, with the annexure providing state-wise PMJDY data as on August 12, 2026. According to Gujarat’s entry, the state has 2,01,07,123 PM Jan Dhan accounts, holding a combined Rs 12,804.16 crore.

According to the entry, the state has 1,03, 21,847 female accounts, including transgenders, while 97,85,276 are male accounts. Roughly 29 out of every 100 Jan Dhan accounts in Gujarat are inoperative. The figure is also higher than the national picture.

Across India, the RTI records 15.36 crore inoperative accounts out of 59.03 crore PMJDY accounts, putting the national inoperative rate at around 26%. Gujarat therefore stands approximately 2.6 percentage points above the national average.

The disparity becomes sharper when the state’s share is compared with its national account base. Gujarat represents around 3.41% of all PMJDY accounts in India, but its 57.50 lakh inoperative accounts constitute about 3.74% of the country’s inoperative accounts. Thus, Gujarat’s share of inactive accounts is disproportionately higher than its share of total accounts.

Yet the data does not paint an entirely negative picture. Gujarat has 14,15,431 zero-balance accounts, equivalent to about 7.04% of its total PMJDY accounts. Nationally, 5.72 crore of 59.03 crore accounts are zero-balance, or roughly 9.69%. Gujarat therefore performs better than the national average on this indicator.

The state has a total of 57.5 lakh inoperative accounts but only 14.15 lakh zero-balance accounts.