Financial Inclusion 2.0 Roadmap Up For Review: A Look At Key Focus Areas

The government is likely to review the Financial Inclusion 2.0 this week, taking note of the progress in terms of the financial inclusion of people. The initiative was announced in February this year, with an aim to include every citizen under the formal financial system, including banking, insurance, credit, and pension. While the initiative was envisioned and announced, its roadmap was not ready and is yet to be finalised.

In February, meetings were also held with the financial regulators and ministries to discuss strategies regarding this. Now, the Ministry is to review the progress in this regard this week, as per a report by the Economic Times. Under the review exercise, the Ministry may check and evaluate the performance of the existing schemes focused on financial inclusion, such as Atal Pension Yojana (APY) for pension, and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJMY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) for insurance, among other schemes.

Schemes Under Pension, Insurance, Banking, And Credit

Reportedly, the ministry will check schemes’ performance, uptake, claim settlement, etc., in the review.

Pension

Note that APY is a defined pension scheme where a subscriber chooses a pension amount, and accordingly, the premium is determined. The scheme offers a pension in five brackets: Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000, Rs 3,000, Rs 4,000, and the highest Rs 5,000 per month after turning 60 years of age. Recently, the scheme has crossed nine crore enrolments, with a record 1.35 crore enrolments in the financial year 2025-26, marking the highest annual growth since the scheme’s launch.

Insurance

PMJJMY offers life cover up to Rs 2 lakh at a Rs 436 annual premium to all subscribers, and PMSBY offers accidental insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh for a Rs 20 annual premium. As of February 25, 2026, a total of 26.88 crore subscribers were enrolled under the PMJJMY, and a total of 57.11 crore cumulative enrolments under the PMSBY.

However, demands have been raised lately for an increase in the insurance coverage from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, and APY pension hike from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000.

APY, designed for unorganised sector workers, is undoubtedly popular, but whether the pension will be increased in this remains a question.  

In December 2025, Pankaj Chaudhary, the Minister of State for Finance, clarified that there was no proposal under consideration to increase the pension amount or the corresponding monthly contribution, but this review raised hopes that the government may take note of these demands.

Banking

So far, a total of 57.78 crore Jan Dhan accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) have been opened. This is a basic savings and deposit account with no minimum balance requirement. It provides a RuPay debit card and makes account holders eligible for PMJJMY, PMSBY, APY, and Mudra loans. It can be opened by those who do not have any other bank account.

Credit

Under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), Rs 39.48 lakh crore have been sanctioned in loans to micro and small businesses for manufacturing, trading, and other such activities. Under the Stand-Up India Scheme, Rs 62,790 crore worth of loans have been sanctioned to people (scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, and women entrepreneurs) for prescribed income-generating activities