99.92 pc inhabited villages have banking outlet within 5 km in country: Centre
New Delhi, Aug 3 (TNT): The Centre on Monday informed the Lok Sabha that 99.92 per cent of the country’s inhabited villages now have access to a banking outlet within a five-kilometre radius, reflecting near-universal banking coverage.
Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written reply, said 6,00,868 of the 6,01,328 inhabited villages are covered by a bank branch, Business Correspondent (BC) or India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) outlet within a 5-km radius, according to data available on the Jan Dhan Darshak (JDD) App.
He said the banking network comprises over 1.81 lakh bank branches, 17.36 lakh Business Correspondents and 1.65 lakh India Post Payments Bank centres as on July 17, 2026.
The Minister said the government’s objective is to provide banking services within five kilometres of every inhabited village, while the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted banks to open branches anywhere in the country without prior approval, subject to 25 per cent of new branches being located in unbanked rural areas.
He said the rollout of banking outlets in uncovered areas is a continuous process undertaken by State Level Bankers’ Committees (SLBCs) and Union Territory Level Bankers’ Committees (UTLBCs) in consultation with state governments and other stakeholders.
Chaudhary informed the House that the number of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts had reached 58.77 crore, with total deposits of ₹3,12,414 crore as on July 17, 2026.
The Minister said the government has introduced several digital initiatives to improve transparency and timely disbursal of agricultural credit, including the Jan Samarth Portal, Kisan Rin Portal, NABARD’s e-KYC application and the Agriculture Ministry’s KRISHIKA platform.
He also highlighted measures taken by the government and the RBI to strengthen cyber security in digital payments, including the establishment of the India Digital Payment Intelligence Corporation (IDPIC) for real-time fraud intelligence, RBI’s digital payment security guidelines, the AI-based MuleHunter tool to identify money mule accounts, and the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal and 1930 helpline for reporting cyber financial frauds.
The Minister added that the RBI and banks are conducting awareness campaigns and electronic banking awareness and training programmes to educate customers on cyber fraud prevention.
TNT KS
