Nationwide Financial Inclusion Saturation Campaign (21 October–31 December 2026): Bridging The Gap Between Scheme Enrolment And Effective Financial Protection In India

Policy Update
Saachi Saxena

Background

Financial inclusion is often measured by the number of bank accounts opened or people enrolled in government schemes. However, access to financial services matters most when people can use them to manage financial risks, meet unexpected expenses and secure their future. For households with limited savings, the absence of insurance or pension coverage can make an unexpected event a serious economic setback. Financial inclusion, therefore, should not end with enrollment but should help people build greater financial security.

Recognising this need, the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, launched the Nationwide Financial Inclusion Saturation Campaign on 21 October 2026, which will continue until 31 December 2026. The campaign aims to cover 2.70 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across India. Through local camps organised in collaboration with the banks, it seeks to expand access to financial services and address gaps in existing scheme coverage (Press Information Bureau [PIB], 2026a).

The campaign focuses on four major government schemes: the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY).

Its activities include opening bank accounts, enrolling eligible individuals in insurance and pension schemes, updating Know Your Customer (KYC) details, correcting nomination records and raising awareness about financial services. It also includes interventions related to agricultural credit and crop insurance (PIB, 2026a).

These measures address different aspects of financial inclusion. While PMJDY facilitates access to formal banking, PMJJBY and PMSBY provide life and accident insurance, respectively. APY supports pension provision, helping individuals plan for financial security in old age. Together, these schemes address various financial needs that cannot be met through a single bank account alone.

The campaign follows upon an earlier nationwide financial inclusion drive conducted in 2025, which demonstrated the scale of activity that coordinated outreach and awareness can generate (PIB, 2026b)was it a beneficiary campaign?. The 2026 initiative builds on this approach by bringing account opening, insurance, pensions, documentation and awareness activities together.

However, the larger concern is whether expanding access will translate into meaningful financial protection. The number of people enrolled in a scheme does not indicate how many maintain active coverage, understand their benefits or can access financial assistance when they need it. The campaign’s success should therefore be assessed not only through the number of registrations but also through improvements in actual insurance and pension coverage. For PMJJBY and PMSBY, this would involve examining how many eligible individuals gain and maintain coverage, alongside the extent to which claims are processed and settled. For APY, assessment should consider the number of eligible individuals newly enrolled, the continuation of their subscriptions and the extent to which coverage is extended to those who remain outside the scheme. Comparing these outcomes with the coverage gaps identified before the campaign would help establish whether the initiative has translated administrative outreach into greater financial security. Ultimately, the campaign’s effectiveness should be measured by how far it expands and sustains financial protection among eligible individuals, rather than by registrations alone.

Functioning

The campaign follows a local outreach model, with banks facilitating financial services through camps organised across 2.70 lakh GPs and ULBs. Bringing several services together at the local level can make it easier for people to access schemes and complete pending formalities without any institutional barriers (PIB, 2026a).

Its functioning rests on three broad areas of intervention.

The first area focuses on enrolling eligible individuals in financial inclusion schemes. The campaign facilitates the opening of PMJDY accounts and enrolment under PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY.

Each scheme serves a different purpose. PMJDY provides access to formal banking, while PMJJBY and PMSBY offer protection against specified life and accident risks. APY provides a framework for pension related savings.

Bringing these schemes together is useful because financial vulnerability rarely arises from a single source. A household may need access to a bank account to manage its money, insurance to protect against specified risks and pension provision to prepare for old age. An integrated approach allows these needs to be addressed within the same outreach framework.

However, campaigns must also ensure that eligible individuals understand the schemes and complete the requirements necessary to benefit from them.

The second area focuses on people who already have financial accounts but may need to update their records or complete pending formalities.

The campaign includes Aadhaar seeding under PMJJBY and PMSBY, re-KYC for existing PMJDY and other savings accounts, the generation of pending Central KYC (C-KYC) identifiers, and the updating of nominations in savings accounts and other facilities (PIB, 2026a).

These activities may appear administrative, but they are important to the functioning of the financial system. Outdated KYC records can create difficulties in maintaining access to banking services, while incomplete nomination details can complicate the transfer of financial assets to intended beneficiaries.

By addressing these issues alongside fresh enrolments, the campaign recognises that financial inclusion requires attention to existing customers as well as those who have yet to enter the formal system.

The third area extends the campaign beyond banking and social security schemes. Its activities include awareness sessions on financial inclusion, digital fraud and the Aapki Poonji, Aapka Adhikar initiative concerning unclaimed financial assets.

The campaign also facilitates the sourcing of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) applications for eligible PM-Kisan beneficiaries and enrolment under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana for the upcoming Rabi season (PIB, 2026a).

These interventions broaden the campaign’s economic relevance. Access to agricultural credit can help farmers meet their financing needs, while crop insurance can provide protection against specified agricultural risks. Financial awareness, meanwhile, can help individuals make more informed decisions and recognise potential fraud.

The campaign thus brings several aspects of financial participation into a common framework.

Performance

The 2025 Nationwide Financial Inclusion Saturation Campaign provides a benchmark for assessing the scale of financial inclusion outreach. According to the Ministry of Finance – 2,67,345 camps had been organised, with achievements reported as of 31 October 2025. These included 1.11 crore new PMJDY accounts, 5.19 crore KYC re-verifications and 1.20 crore nomination updates. Fresh enrolments comprised 1.40 crore under PMJJBY, 2.86 crore under PMSBY and 44.43 lakh under APY. The campaign also reported 92,066 claims settled under PMJJBY and PMSBY combined (Press Information Bureau [PIB], 2025).

PMSBY recorded the highest number of fresh enrolments among the three social security schemes, followed by PMJJBY and APY. The substantial number of KYC re-verifications and nomination updates also indicates that the campaign addressed existing account-related requirements alongside new enrolments. However, these figures measure administrative outputs rather than the extent of financial protection finally received by beneficiaries (PIB, 2025).

Separate government data provide additional insight into insurance scheme performance. A Ministry of Finance release dated 10 March 2026 reported 10,75,337 PMJJBY claims received, 10,41,853 claims paid and 32,893 rejected as of 18 February 2026. It also reported a claim settlement ratio of 99.95% since the scheme’s inception (PIB, 2026a).

For PMSBY, a government factsheet reported 2,56,526 claims received and 1,89,057 claims disbursed as of 30 June 2026 (PIB, 2026b). The difference between these figures cannot automatically be treated as rejected claims because the available data do not establish the status of every outstanding claim.

Although the available figures demonstrate substantial outreach, they do not establish how many eligible individuals remained without insurance or pension coverage after the campaign and campaign-specific assessment of claim rejection rates and settlement times across both insurance schemes. Since the campaign runs until 31 December 2026, its final performance remains to be assessed.

Impact

The campaign has the potential to strengthen household financial security by improving access to basic banking, life and accident insurance, and pension schemes. PMJDY can facilitate access to formal banking services, while PMJJBY and PMSBY can provide financial support to eligible beneficiaries in the event of covered death or disability. APY aims to provide a regular pension to eligible subscribers after the age of 60. The campaign’s expected impact lies in helping households manage financial shocks and improve their preparedness for old age. However, these are intended benefits, and their actual effect depends on continued coverage and beneficiaries’ ability to access the benefits for which they qualify.

Available government data provide some evidence of benefits reaching beneficiaries. As reported by the Ministry of Finance in March 2026, PMJJBY had recorded 10,75,337 claims received and 10,41,853 claims paid over the preceding five years, with a reported claim settlement ratio of 99.95% since the scheme’s inception. The government also reported that settlement times varied across insurers, ranging from 0.61 to 17 days. For PMSBY, government data recorded 2,56,526 claims received and 1,89,057 claims disbursed as of 30 June 2026. These figures demonstrate that the schemes have facilitated actual benefit payments, but they alone do not establish how many remaining claims were rejected, pending or otherwise unresolved.

For households with limited savings, an unexpected death, accident or interruption in income can place considerable pressure on their finances. Insurance and pension schemes can help address some of these risks by providing financial protection or supporting future income security. By expanding enrollment under PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY, the campaign seeks to make these arrangements accessible to more eligible individuals. Its emphasis on existing accounts and pending formalities may also help beneficiaries maintain their existing financial arrangements.

However, the economic value of these schemes depends on more than the number of people registered. Insurance provides meaningful protection when a valid claim can be made and the corresponding benefit received. Pension provision, similarly, depends on the scheme’s applicable conditions and the benefits available to the subscriber. The campaign can therefore contribute to household financial security, but the extent of that contribution will need to be assessed through evidence on continued coverage and access to benefits.

Second, financial services may remain difficult to use when individuals have incomplete documentation, outdated records or limited information about the procedures involved. By bringing account opening, KYC updates, nomination corrections and scheme enrollment together at local camps, the campaign may reduce the time and effort required to complete these tasks. It also creates an opportunity for individuals to seek assistance with several financial requirements in one place. It can make formal financial participation more accessible.

Third, the inclusion of KCC application sourcing and crop insurance enrollment extends the campaign’s potential benefits to agricultural households. Formal agricultural credit can help farmers meet financing needs, while crop insurance can provide protection against specified production losses. This access to credit can ease financing constraints, whereas insurance can help manage certain risks associated with agricultural activity. The campaign’s focus on eligible PM-Kisan beneficiaries provides a defined group for KCC-related outreach. However, the available announcement does not specify how many eligible farmers lack KCC coverage or how many applications are expected to result in sanctioned credit.

Despite this evidence, the available figures do not establish whether all eligible households have adequate financial protection or whether the campaign has reduced the number of people remaining outside these schemes. Claim payments indicate that benefits have reached some beneficiaries, but they do not, by themselves, measure the campaign’s overall impact on household financial resilience. Similarly, enrollment under APY does not establish whether subscribers will maintain their contributions and receive pension benefits in the future. A fuller assessment would require information on active insurance policies, claims pending or rejected, reasons for non-settlement, continuity of pension contributions and the number of eligible individuals still uncovered. These measures would help distinguish the campaign’s administrative achievements from its longer-term social and economic outcomes.

Emerging Issues

The first challenge is defining and measuring saturation at the beneficiary level. Although the campaign targets 2.70 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), reaching these locations does not establish whether all eligible individuals have been covered. Saturation should be assessed by comparing the number of eligible individuals enrolled in each scheme with the estimated eligible population in the same area. Separate coverage estimates are needed for PMJDY, PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY because eligibility conditions differ across schemes. This would help identify locations where enrolment remains low relative to the eligible population.

A second challenge is that the campaign combines activities that serve different administrative purposes. New enrolments expand scheme participation, while KYC re-verification, Aadhaar seeding and nomination updates address documentation and account-maintenance requirements. Financial awareness activities and support for accessing agricultural credit or crop insurance serve other purposes. Their progress should instead be tracked separately against activity-specific objectives, including beneficiaries reached, applications processed and pending administrative requirements resolved.

The campaign’s implementation also depends on coordination among participating banks, local authorities and other implementing institutions. Identifying eligible individuals and organising camps may not be sufficient if documentation issues, incomplete applications or other administrative barriers remain unresolved after the initial interaction. A clear follow-up mechanism is therefore needed to track pending cases, assign responsibility for resolving them and inform beneficiaries about the next steps. Without such follow-up, the number of camps conducted may not fully reflect the extent to which implementation gaps have been addressed.

Another challenge is determining whether financial awareness activities help individuals make informed decisions about the schemes available to them. The number of awareness camps or participants reached indicates the scale of outreach, but not whether beneficiaries understand eligibility conditions, premiums, pension contributions, documentation requirements or the process for seeking assistance. Assessment should therefore include simple checks of beneficiary understanding and awareness of the relevant application and grievance-redressal processes. This would help determine whether outreach activities are providing actionable information rather than merely disseminating scheme details.

Way Forward

The Department of Financial Services (DFS) should establish scheme-specific baselines for every participating Gram Panchayat (GP) and Urban Local Body (ULB). These should identify the estimated eligible population, existing scheme coverage and the number of individuals requiring enrollment or assistance with pending formalities. Based on these baselines, measurable targets should be set for each scheme, with progress tracked through indicators such as the proportion of eligible individuals newly enrolled, the proportion of pending KYC and nomination cases resolved, and the proportion of identified beneficiaries whose applications have been processed. Comparing these indicators with baseline figures at regular intervals would help identify areas where implementation is progressing slowly and direct further outreach towards the remaining gaps.

A monitoring mechanism should track progress at all levels throughout the campaign. Participating banks and local implementing authorities could maintain standardised records of eligible individuals identified, enrolments completed, documentation issues resolved and applications awaiting further action. These records should be consolidated periodically by the relevant authorities to compare progress across locations and flag unresolved cases. A final assessment after the campaign can compare the results with the original baselines and document the remaining coverage and implementation gaps.

The campaign’s assessment should extend beyond the number of registrations to examine whether individuals can effectively use the schemes and access the assistance for which they are eligible. Enrolment figures measure how many people have joined a scheme, but do not establish whether documentation is complete, applications have progressed or beneficiaries understand the procedures for accessing their entitlements. Complementary indicators should therefore include the resolution of administrative issues, beneficiary awareness of scheme conditions and application procedures, and the status of claims submitted under the relevant insurance schemes.

Effective implementation also requires coordination between banks, local authorities and other participating institutions. Outreach activities should be supported by clear communication on eligibility, documentation, premiums, pension contributions and the procedures for seeking assistance. Beneficiaries who cannot complete enrolment during a camp should receive information on the outstanding requirements and where to resolve them. Integrating these efforts with the monitoring mechanism would help authorities identify recurring barriers and improve follow-up at the local level.

Conclusion

The Nationwide Financial Inclusion Saturation Campaign offers an important opportunity to expand access to banking, insurance, pensions and agricultural financial services. By bringing several interventions together across 2.70 lakh GPs and ULBs, it seeks to address both the enrolment of new beneficiaries and the practical difficulties faced by existing account holders (PIB, 2026a).

The experience of the 2025 campaign demonstrates the administrative scale that coordinated outreach can achieve. However, the number of camps organised and registrations completed cannot, on their own, establish whether financial protection has improved.

The real test of the 2026 campaign will be whether it reaches eligible individuals who remain outside the formal financial system, resolves barriers faced by existing beneficiaries and enables people to access the services for which they qualify.

This requires a shift in emphasis from counting activities to assessing outcomes. Clear baselines, measurable targets, continued coverage monitoring and transparent reporting would help establish whether the campaign is reducing gaps in financial protection.

References

Press Information Bureau. (2026a, October 21). Saturation campaign of financial inclusion (FI) schemes to be held from 21st October to 31st December 2026. Ministry of Finance, Government of India. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID =2325938&reg=48&lang=2

Press Information Bureau. (2025, November 10). DFS successfully concludes the 4 month long Nationwide Financial Inclusion Saturation Campaign. Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2188526&lang=1&reg=6&utm_source=chatgpt.com

Press Information Bureau. (2026, March 10). Government takes measures to increase enrolment and ensure timely disbursement of benefits under PMJJBY. Ministry of Finance, Government of India. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2237489&lang=2&reg=48&utm_

Press Information Bureau. (2026, August 12). Financial inclusion in India: Banking every citizen, empowering every household, GOI https://www.pib.gov.in/FactsheetDetails.aspx?ModuleId=16&id=150832&lang=1&reg=48&utm_

The Economic Times. (2026, October 20). Finance Ministry to run financial inclusion campaign https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/finance-ministry-to-run-financial-inclusion-campaign/articleshow/135055857.cms?from=mdr

About the Contributor

Saachi Saxena is an undergraduate student pursuing B.A. (Hons.) Economics at Gargi College, University of Delhi. Her research interests include climate economics, public policy, sustainable development, healthcare economics, and development policy. She has actively contributed to policy research and social impact initiatives and is passionate about evidence-based policymaking for inclusive and resilient development.

Reviewed by: Manisha Kumari and Ayana N K

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to IMPRI – Impact and Policy Research Institute for providing the opportunity to prepare this policy update. The author sincerely acknowledges the guidance, valuable feedback, and constructive suggestions received during the review process, which significantly strengthened the quality and analytical depth of this article.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this policy update are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of IMPRI or any affiliated institution. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information and data presented, readers are encouraged to verify facts independently before relying on them for any decision-making purpose.