New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS): More than 33 crore accounts were opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) till last December and over 80 per cent of these are active accounts, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

"As apprised by banks, as on December 26, 2018, there are 33.66 crore accounts under the PMJDY. Out of these accounts, 28.16 crore PMJDY accounts are operative accounts," Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in a written reply.

PMJDY accounts are "basic savings bank deposit account" and there is no requirement for maintaining minimum balance in such accounts and thus no penalty is imposed.

Shukla said while accounts can be closed by banks on the request of customers, the banks are permitted to close an account in phased manner in case of non-furnishing of required Know Your Customer (KYC) information and /or non-cooperation by the customer.

"Number of PMJDY accounts closed is not centrally monitored. However, cumulative number of existing PMJDY accounts...shows that the number of these accounts has increased since launch of the scheme," he said.