Government exempts banking correspondents under PMJDY from service tax

New Delhi: Government has exempted the banking correspondents from service tax for opening savings account under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). In a release, Finance Ministry said, this has been done to promote financial inclusion. It said, the services provided by any person as an intermediary to a business facilitator related to account opening, cash deposits, cash withdrawals, obtaining e-life



certificates and Aadhar seeding, have also been exempted from Service Tax. 

PMJDY, a national mission on financial inclusion, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, with the main objective of covering all households with at least one bank account per household across the country. More than 18 crore accounts have been opened under the scheme, so far.