The shift comes against the backdrop of nearly 590 million PMJDY accounts — more than 54 per cent of which are held by women, with a large proportion of customers coming from tier 3 and tier 4 areas, according Rama Mohan Rao Amara, MD (RB&O), SBI, while speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai on Friday. “Time and again we talk about the transformational impact of the PMJDY, Aadhaar, mobile and coupled with various fintech applications, the kind of transformation it has brought into the Indian economy helping millions of people be part of the formal economy,” the official said.
Financial Inclusion
The change, he said, is not merely about opening bank accounts but about overcoming the traditional access and gender biases associated with financial inclusion. “It is not only providing the access, but is also solving the problem of the typical bias in the financial inclusion space, it has definitely solved the problem,” he said.SBI, which accounts for around 30 per cent of PMJDY accounts, is now seeking to graduate these customers from savings to financial protection. “While these accounts started with zero-balance, we are able to see ₹5,000 average balance in these accounts,” the official said. The bank is encouraging customers to take the next step by adopting insurance products such as the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), while also encouraging them to move towards pension products such as the Atal Pension Yojana.
Challenge of trust
But as India moves from financial inclusion to mass digital financial adoption, the next challenge may be one of trust rather than access. Despite the massive growth in digital payments, incidents of digital fraud and unresolved transaction disputes could threaten consumer confidence in the system, the SBI official warned. “If we do not have a robust mechanism of addressing the grievance in a timely manner, then it is only a question of time before people lose faith in it,” he said.He cited the example of a UPI transaction in which a customer’s account is debited but the beneficiary does not receive the money. If such complaints are not resolved quickly, he said, confidence in the digital payment system itself could be shaken. The official pointed to the regulator’s upcoming framework requiring banks to compensate customers in specified cases of digital fraud. From January 1, banks will have to pay ₹25,000 compensation to a consumer who has been defrauded through digital means in specified circumstances, including cases where the customer has been lured through social engineering or similar techniques and has not compromised credentials willingly. The compensation would be available at least once in the customer’s lifetime, subject to the applicable framework.
Published on September 11, 2026