Final instalment of Rs 500 to women Jan Dhan a/c holders from June 5: FinMin

Women Jan Dhan bank account holders will start getting the third and final instalment of Rs 500 from Friday in line with the announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in March.

To help the poor tide over the COVID-19 crisis, the government on March 26 announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 500 to be credited to women Jan Dhan account holders for the next three months starting from April.

Instalment of Rs 500 for June has been sent to the bank accounts of PMJDY women beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package.

Beneficiaries are requested to follow the schedule to visit banks and CSPs and money can also be withdrawn via ATMs and BCs, the Financial Services Department under the Finance Ministry informed through a video message.

The transfer has been staggered over a period of five days to avoid a rush at bank branches. This will help in ensuring social distancing and avoid overcrowding in banks.

As per the schedule, women account holders under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) having account number with the last digit as 0 and 1 will get the money in their accounts on June 5, while accounts ending with 2 or 3 can approach the bank on June 6.

Beneficiaries with account numbers ending with 4 or 5 can collect their money on June 8, while accounts ending with 6 or 7 may withdraw on June 9.

The last tranche would be remitted on June 10 for account numbers ending with 8 or 9, it said.

In case of emergency, one can withdraw the money immediately. However, for orderly disbursal, one must follow the banks' payment plan, it added.

Beneficiaries may withdraw any day at their convenience after June 10.

Through the informative video, beneficiaries are encouraged to use the neighbourhood ATMs with RuPay cards, Bank Mitras and customer service points (CSPs) as much as possible to avoid crowding at the branches.

"Please note that there will be no charges for withdrawing money from other bank ATMs, at present, as per the government directives," it said.

Besides, it encourages people to buy Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) at an affordable premium of Rs 330 and Rs 12 per annum respectively.

During April and May as many as 20.05 crore women Jan Dhan account holders received Rs 500 each in their accounts as the first instalment. The total disbursement under the head was Rs 20,344 crore as on June 3.

In a bid to mitigate the hardship caused by the coronavirus crisis, the government in late March announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore stimulus package comprising free foodgrains and cooking gas to poor and cash doles to poor women and elderly.