Rama Mohan Rao Amara, SBI’s managing director, outlined the shift at Mumbai’s Global Fintech Fest 2026. He said India has close to 590 million Jan Dhan accounts, with SBI managing around 30 per cent. The rising average balance points to savings building up among people brought into banking through the scheme.

Women represent more than 54 per cent of account holders, largely from Tier-3 and Tier-4 locations. Amara credited the combined use of Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar and mobile connectivity with widening access to formal finance, including for women and rural customers who previously faced barriers.

SBI is now encouraging customers to move beyond savings into financial protection. The products highlighted include PMJJBY, the life insurance scheme; PMSBY, which provides accident insurance; and APY, the pension scheme. This marks a shift from simply bringing people into banking towards expanding the services they use.

Amara also flagged digital fraud and slow complaint handling as threats to customer confidence. A failed UPI payment that still debits the sender’s account was one example. The report describes a forthcoming framework under which banks may owe ₹25,000 for certain digital fraud cases, including qualifying social-engineering incidents where passwords were not willingly shared. It mentions January 1 as the start date without specifying the year, and says compensation would be available at least once during a customer’s lifetime.