India’s Department of Financial Services began a bank camp campaign Oct. 21 to offer account updates, insurance and pension enrollment across a combined 270,000 village councils and urban local bodies.
The Ministry of Finance said the drive is intended to bring more people into the formal financial system. Gram Panchayats are village councils, and the 270,000 figure covers them and urban local bodies together. The launch follows the earlier plan for the nationwide drive.
At the camps, banks are to open Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana accounts and repeat identity checks for existing accounts under that program and other savings accounts. They will also generate pending C-KYC IDs and help customers update nominations for savings accounts and facilities such as lockers.
Customers can enroll in two insurance programs: Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana. Banks will also offer enrollment in Atal Pension Yojana and help link Aadhaar identification details to the insurance programs. The ministry gave no separate enrollment targets for the three programs.
The campaign includes farm services. Banks will collect Kisan Credit Card applications from eligible PM-Kisan beneficiaries and offer enrollment in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna for the coming Rabi season. The ministry did not specify dates or venues for individual camps in its nationwide announcement.
Banks are also to hold sessions on financial inclusion programs, digital fraud and unclaimed financial assets. State administrations, banks and the Department of Financial Services will monitor the campaign’s progress, the ministry said.
A previous nationwide Gram Panchayat-level campaign ran from July through September 2025. It included identity-record updates and information on unclaimed deposits, customer complaints and cyber fraud. The current campaign is scheduled to run through Dec. 31.
