An Empirical Study of Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile Trinity and Financial Inclusion

In a recent initiative, a new scheme combining Jan Dhan account, Aadhaar Card and mobile banking have been introduced by the government. The philosophy was that Jan Dhan accounts would be opened especially for neglected sections of society. The issue of unique identity proof of all citizens would be taken care of by Aadhaar Card. Mobile Banking would develop infrastructure for payments and withdrawals thereby resolving the problem of last-mile delivery of services (Economic Survey 2015; Srinivas & Kapur, 2018). We undertook a questionnaire-based study to seek perception about the level of inclusion and effectiveness of JAM scheme from 150 respondents in Delhi during July - September 2018. The study indicated that the level of financial inclusion varies widely among these households. Although banking services are available in the vicinity they barely use facilities like passbook, cheque book, debit card, mobile banking etc. With regard to JAM trinity, they are happy about the overall scheme but certain concerns persist. Demographics play a major role since the older generation, educated, working-class and high-income cadre have more positive perception among the entire group. Also, the perceived level of inclusion, the effectiveness of Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar Card and mobile banking are found to be strongly correlated.