On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it will limit withdrawals for Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts holders to Rs10,000 per month, if the account is compliant with know-your-customer (KYC) requirements. These guidelines, which are part of daily-evolving guidelines announced by the RBI, come in the wake of allegations that Jan Dhan accounts are being used to deposit black money. While the regulator talks about innocent farmers and rural account holders, it must be noted that a significant chunk of accounts under the Jan Dhan scheme belong to urban customers. This means that a Jan Dhan account holder in a city will be allowed to withdraw far lesser than the Rs24,000 per week allowed to other bank account holders, even though they have been standing in the same queue. One big reason why these guidelines might be considered discriminatory is because the central bank says that Jan Dhan account holders may be allowed higher withdrawal limits once branch managers determine that the cause for withdrawal is a genuine one.

Source: Mint November 30, 2016 11:14 UTC