Government Financial Schemes

Five central schemes cover almost every household need at almost no cost: a bank account, life cover, accident cover, a pension and a small business loan. Together they cost under ₹500 a year. The table below is the whole set, with the figure, the eligibility and the price for each. Read it as a floor, not a plan. These schemes are designed to stop a disaster, not to fund a life.

What each scheme gives you, and what it costs

Scheme	What you get	Who is eligible	What it costs	As of
PM Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)	Zero-balance savings account, free RuPay debit card with ₹2 lakh accident cover, overdraft up to ₹10,000	Any Indian citizen eligible to open a bank account	Nil — no minimum balance	27 Aug 2025
PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)	₹2 lakh on death from any cause	Bank or post office account holders aged 18 to 50	₹436 a year, auto-debited	9 May 2025
PM Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)	₹2 lakh for accidental death or total disability; ₹1 lakh for partial	Bank or post office account holders aged 18 to 70	₹20 a year, auto-debited	9 May 2025
Atal Pension Yojana (APY)	Guaranteed pension of ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 a month after age 60	Bank account holders aged 18 to 40 who are not income tax payers	A monthly contribution set by the pension you pick	9 May 2025
PM Mudra Yojana (PMMY)	Collateral-free business loan up to ₹20 lakh	Non-corporate, non-farm income-generating activity	Interest per RBI guidelines — it is a loan, not a grant	8 Apr 2026

Sources: Ministry of Finance and Department of Financial Services releases dated 9 May 2025 (Jan Suraksha), 27 August 2025 (PMJDY) and 8 April 2026 (PMMY).

The four Mudra loan sizes

Mudra is not one product. It is four bands, by the stage of the business.

Category	Loan size
Shishu	Up to ₹50,000
Kishor	Above ₹50,000 and up to ₹5 lakh
Tarun	Above ₹5 lakh and up to ₹10 lakh
TarunPlus	Above ₹10 lakh and up to ₹20 lakh

Loans cover term finance and working capital across manufacturing, trading and services. Activities allied to agriculture, such as poultry, dairy and beekeeping, are included. The lender may be a bank, a regional rural bank, a small finance bank, an NBFC or a microfinance institution.

How to read the table without a costly mistake

Four misreadings do most of the damage.

₹2 lakh is not life cover for a family. PMJJBY pays ₹2 lakh on death. A household that loses its earner needs many times that. Treat PMJJBY as a floor and buy real cover on top. Our guide to term insurance explains how much you actually need.

You can only join through one account. Both PMJJBY and PMSBY say a person may enrol through one bank or post office account only, even if they hold several. Enrolling twice does not double the payout. It wastes the premium.

The cover year is fixed, not personal. Both schemes run from 1 June to 31 May. Join late and you pay a pro-rata premium: ₹342 for a September to November enrolment, ₹228 from December to February, ₹114 from March to May. PMJJBY also has a 30-day lien from enrolment, so a death in the first month is not covered.

Mudra is debt. Collateral-free does not mean consequence-free. The interest follows RBI guidelines, you repay it on schedule, and default hits your credit record like any other loan.

How do you actually enrol?

Through the bank or post office where you hold the account. You give consent and enable auto-debit. There is no medical test for PMJJBY or PMSBY, and no agent in the middle.

The window is annual. Both schemes ask for the option to join by 31 May each year, for cover starting 1 June. The government has since opened an online Jan Suraksha portal, so you can enrol without visiting a branch or a post office. The finance ministry credits that portal and the digitised claims process with faster settlements.

The scale is worth knowing when you wonder if these schemes pay. As on 23 April 2025, PMJJBY had paid ₹18,398 crore in claims to over 9 lakh families. PMSBY had paid ₹3,121 crore across 1,57,155 claims. These are not paper schemes.

Who cannot use these schemes

APY is closed to income tax payers. The rule is explicit: it is open to account holders aged 18 to 40 who are not income tax payers. If you file a return, use the National Pension System instead. It is the same regulator and a far larger corpus.

PMJJBY closes at 50 and PMSBY at 70. Joining early matters, because you cannot enter after the age gate closes. A 49-year-old who signs up keeps the cover on renewal terms. A 51-year-old cannot start.

The failure that costs people the claim

Both insurance schemes run on auto-debit. If the account balance is short on the debit date, the premium fails and the cover lapses. Nobody rings you. Families discover it at claim time, which is the worst possible moment.

Check the debit each June. Keep the balance funded. And tell your family the policy exists — an unclaimed ₹2 lakh helps nobody. Both schemes now settle claims through the online Jan Suraksha portal, which is faster than the branch route it replaced.

What these schemes do not cover

None of them pays a hospital bill. That gap is filled by Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY if your family is eligible, and by a private policy if it is not. None of them replaces an emergency fund either, because a claim takes time and a lockdown does not. Build the emergency fund first.

They are still extraordinary value. ₹456 a year buys ₹2 lakh of life cover and ₹2 lakh of accident cover. No commercial product in India comes close on price. Just do not mistake the floor for the roof.

Frequently asked questions

Can I take both PMJJBY and PMSBY?

Yes. They cover different risks and the premiums stack: ₹436 plus ₹20, so ₹456 a year in all. PMJJBY pays on death from any cause. PMSBY pays only on an accident, but adds disability cover of ₹2 lakh for total loss and ₹1 lakh for partial.

Do I need a Jan Dhan account to join these schemes?

No. Any bank or post office account works, provided the bank participates. A PMJDY account is simply the version with no minimum balance. See zero balance savings accounts for the alternatives.

How much pension will Atal Pension Yojana actually pay?

You pick the amount at the start: ₹1,000, ₹2,000, ₹3,000, ₹4,000 or ₹5,000 a month from age 60. Your contribution is set by that choice and your age at joining. The pension continues to your spouse, and the accumulated corpus goes to your nominee after that.

Is a Mudra loan interest free?

No. It is collateral free, which is a different thing. The interest rate is governed by RBI guidelines and set by the lender. There is no waiver and no subsidy built into the scheme itself.

What is the accident cover on a Jan Dhan RuPay card?

₹2 lakh, built into the free RuPay debit card. Accounts opened before 28 August 2018 carry ₹1 lakh instead. The cover has usage conditions set by the card scheme, so check with your branch before you rely on it.

Sources

Ministry of Finance, Three Jan Suraksha Schemes complete 10 years of providing social security cover, 9 May 2025 — pib.gov.in. Fetched 7 September 2026.
Press Information Bureau, 11 Years of PM Jan Dhan Yojana: Banking the Unbanked, 27 August 2025 — pib.gov.in. Fetched 7 September 2026.
Ministry of Finance, Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana completes 11 Years, 8 April 2026 — pib.gov.in. Fetched 7 September 2026.