Customer Perception Towards Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY): An Empirical Investigation from Slum-dwellers Perspective

The government-sponsored welfare programmes are instrumental in balancing economic growth and reducing inequalities in society. Society becomes inclusive only when the deprived people have access to banking and financial services. The policymakers and financial players emphasized the importance of financial inclusion programmes because of their significant impact on economic growth and the financial health of the economy. The Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is a government-led intervention programme with a national mission to provide banking facilities to all deprived sections in the country. The study focuses to examine the determinants of customer perception towards PMJDY. The study includes the slum dwellers of Bhubaneswar as the target group of beneficiaries for empirical research. The determinants include the delivery process (SERVQUAL) and outcome attributes associated with the social scheme. As customer perception is a categorical variable, the multinomial logistic regression model is adopted to test the hypothesis. The study results indicate that the beneficiaries consider reliability, assurance, tangibility and social connect dimensions as the likely factors to obtain a higher level of perception towards the welfare programme.