Bihar's Jehanabad Becomes First District with 100% Digital Banking

• 12 Oct 2022

Why In News?

On October 11, 2022, Jehanabad district of Bihar has become the first 100% digital banking district with the joint effort of the Reserve Bank of India and the Union Finance Ministry.

Key Points

• Digital banking is being promoted in the state to provide the benefit of banking facility to the people sitting at home, so that every district, every town and every panchayat can be digital. In this direction, with the joint efforts of the Reserve Bank of India and the Union Finance Ministry, campaigns are being run for digital banking in three districts of Bihar as a pilot project.
• As a result of this campaign of digital banking, Jehanabad district has become the first 100 percent digital banking district and soon Arwal and Sheikhpura are going to become 100 percent digital banking districts.
• Out of the total 1035126 active account holders in Jehanabad district, 1031235 have at least one digital banking product, i.e. internet banking, debit card, mobile banking, UPI and other similar facilities. This is 99.65 percent of the total active account. There are about 17944 accounts in the current account, in which 11887 account holders use internet banking, 4452 PoS or QR codes and 8450 mobile banking services.
• Arwal has 609662 bank accounts out of which 552221 are active bank accounts. About 90.58% of its accounts are linked to digital products, while in Sheikhupura so far 89.18% of accounts are linked to digital products.
• The best thing about digital payment systems in financial transactions is that it does not require carrying cash. From buying petrol with the card, there are many discounts like buying rail tickets, toll on highways and insurance.
• It is noteworthy that in the year 2019, the Central Government and the Reserve Bank had decided to make at least one district in every state of the country a district with 100 percent digital banking service.
• Under this, Jehanabad district was selected in Bihar and the State Level Bankers Committee worked with all the stakeholders and Jehanabad has been declared a district with digital banking.