The finance ministry has said private sector banks in the country are lagging behind public sector banks in the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Dhan Jan Yojana program. These banks have been able to open just about 30 lakh accounts in four months, the ministry data points out. Public sector banks have opened 8.62 crore such accounts in the same period, while regional rural banks have opened 1.92 crore accounts. In terms of percentrage, the share of private sector banks stands at 3% while they have a market share of 20%.The program has set an initial target to open 7.5 crore such accounts, which was later revised upwards to 10 crore to be completed by 26 January 2015. This target has already been achieved as including those accounts opened by RRBs, there have been some 10.84 crore accounts. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and J&K Bank account for about two-third of the total accounts opened by private sector lenders – HDFC Bank 7.8 lakh accounts, ICICI Bank 6.67 lakh and J&K Bank 6.06 lakh. This pales into insignificance compared to State Bank of India, which has opened 2.15 crore accounts, Punjab National Bank 61.74 lakh accounts, Bank of Baroda 58.47 lakh accounts and Canara Bank 53.79 lakh accounts.
