Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is a Modi government-backed life insurance scheme. It was originally mentioned in the year 2015 Budget speech by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in February in the year 2015. It was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May in Kolkata, West Bengal. As of May 2015, only 20% of India’s population had any kind of insurance, this scheme aims to increase the number of those insured. So far it has found considerable success.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and 50 years of age with bank accounts. It has an annual premium of 330 rupees or US $4.60. The Goods and Services Tax or GST is exempted on Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. The amount will be automatically debited from the bank accounts of the users. In case of death due to any cause, the payment to the nominee will be 2 lakh rupees or $2,800 US Dollars. In order to avail of the benefits offered by the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana policy, it is mandatory to link the nominee’s aadhaar card to the participatory bank account.
This scheme will be linked also to the bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme. Most of these accounts of the nominees had zero balance initially. The government aims to reduce the number of such zero balance accounts by using this and related schemes. Now all Bank account holders can avail this facility through their net-banking service facility or filling a form at the bank branch at any time of the year. The premium is deducted automatically from the insured’s bank account. Insured’s family members will receive a sum insured of 2 lac Rupees after the insured nominee’s death.