Due to lowering of bank transaction costs, hundreds of millions of people who lacked access to financial services are revealing a latent demand. India’s unprecedented effort to “bank the unbanked” through the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), is by far the largest such undertaking in the world. Launched in 2014, the mission to provide no-frills, no-minimum-balance (hereafter, JDY) bank accounts to every adult—including the one-fifth of the population living below the poverty line as well as those living far from a bank branch—has been remarkably successful.

(Live Mint)