PSU banks to rope in celebrities to promote Jan Suraksha schemes

NEW DELHI: Public sector banks will now focus on promoting the NDA government’s social security schemes launched under the Jan Suraksha umbrella. To begin with,

NEW DELHI: Public sector banks will now focus on promoting the NDA government’s social security schemes launched under the Jan Suraksha umbrella. To begin with, banks are looking to rope in celebrities to promote the schemes, sources said.

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The PMJSY provides a pension scheme and a term insurance cover under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), and an accident insurance cover under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY). The plans have a cover of ₹2 lakh each, with a premium of only ₹12 a year for accident insurance and ₹330 for life insurance. The scheme, launched in May last year, has around 126 million subscribers ( 30.4 million in PMJJBY and 96.3 million in PMSBY).

With just over two years to go for the general elections, the government is keen to make a success of the Jan Suraksha scheme. With the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) already a success, banks want to offer insurance products to those who already have bank accounts under the scheme, sources added.

The government is also planning to tweak the Atal Pension Yojana — also launched under the Jan Suraksha umbrella — since it has not taken off as planned. Till date, there are only around 3.5 million subscribers.

The scheme had not found many takers due to lack of awareness among unorganised sector workers, said the sources quoted above. Moreover, the aggressive promotional campaign that accompanied the Jan Dhan Yojana was missing in case of the Jan Suraksha schemes.

In contrast, 175 million people have opened bank accounts under the PMJDY as they were offered zero-balance accounts.

Bankers, however, said the comparison between the two schemes was not “fair”.

“You cannot compare the Jan Suraksha schemes with the PMJDY and so it is natural for these to take some time to take off,” said a senior official of a public sector bank.

To make these schemes more acceptable, the government, during a recent meeting with banking and insurance executives, directed the companies to clear claims on priority basis.

“We are planning to launch a nationwide campaign to increase awareness for these products and help customers understand their benefits ... these schemes are doing well but we want more people to subscribe to these products,” said a senior finance ministry official, seeking anonymity.

Insurance penetration in India rose to 3.4% in 2015-16, against 3.3% in 2014-15, according to industry estimates.