తెలుగు

Everyday tasks

Opening a bank account (Jan Dhan / zero-balance account)
You open a basic savings account (BSBD), or a Jan Dhan account, in your name, with no minimum balance.
For whom: Anyone in Andhra Pradesh without a bank account, parents who want an account for a child, and people who have no identity documents yet. Indian citizens living abroad (NRIs), OCI cardholders and foreign nationals have other rules: the first question shows them.
Published on 30-10-2026. Not every fact has been checked against its official source yet: confirm at the office.
Answer a few questions to see which steps apply to you. The whole guide is below.

Documents you need

•
Aadhaar, or another officially valid document
original
If you give your Aadhaar number, the bank checks it with UIDAI (e-KYC). Aadhaar is not compulsory for KYC, but you must give the Aadhaar number for government scheme money to come into this account. Instead of Aadhaar, you may give one of these: passport, driving licence, Election Commission voter ID, NREGA job card signed by a State Government officer, or the National Population Register (NPR) letter with your name and address. If that document does not have your present address, for now an electricity, telephone, postpaid mobile, piped gas or water bill not more than two months old, a property or municipal tax receipt, or a pension order showing the address will do; you then give an official document with your present address within three months.
If you don't have it:
→ Getting a new Aadhaar
•
PAN card, or Form 60 if you have no PAN
original
If you don't have it:
→ New PAN card
•
A recent photograph
original
For a small account, give a photo you have signed yourself (self-attested). For other accounts the bank officer may take your photo there and then.
📷 What the photo must look like
• For a small account, sign the photo yourself.
• If the bank takes your photo for digital KYC, it is a live photo, against a white background, with no one else in the frame.
Not confirmed: The RBI directions give no size or colour for the photo (only "a recent photograph"). Ask your branch what size it wants, and how many.
•
Identity documents of the child and the guardian
original
Not confirmed: The RBI directions say only that the KYC rules apply to children's accounts too; they do not list the documents separately. Ask at the branch which ones it needs.

Steps

Only if
In whose name is the account? Mine (18 or older)
1.
Decide which bank to use. Every bank, regional rural banks included, must offer the basic savings account (BSBD) with no minimum balance. If you have no account in any bank, ask for it to be opened as a Jan Dhan (PMJDY) account.
✋ You do this yourself
Only if
In whose name is the account? Mine (18 or older) · Do you have Aadhaar, or another official document such as a voter ID, passport, driving licence or NREGA job card? Yes · Where do you want to open it? At a bank branch
2.
Go to the branch and fill in the form for a BSBD / Jan Dhan account. Give your identity document and your PAN or Form 60. Sign the declaration that you have no BSBD account in another bank.
🏦 The bank branch you chose
📎 Aadhaar, or another officially valid document, PAN card, or Form 60 if you have no PAN, A recent photograph
💰 Fee: Free · No first deposit is needed to open it. The basic services of a BSBD account cost nothing.
Only if
In whose name is the account? Mine (18 or older) · Do you have Aadhaar, or another official document such as a voter ID, passport, driving licence or NREGA job card? Yes · Where do you want to open it? With the Bank Mitra (business correspondent) in my village
3.
Go with your Aadhaar to the Bank Mitra in your village (the business correspondent who works for the bank). They check your Aadhaar by fingerprint or face (e-KYC) and open the account.
🏦 Bank Mitra (business correspondent) point
📎 Aadhaar, or another officially valid document, PAN card, or Form 60 if you have no PAN
💰 Fee: Free · No first deposit is needed to open it. The basic services of a BSBD account cost nothing.
Only if
In whose name is the account? Mine (18 or older) · Do you have Aadhaar, or another official document such as a voter ID, passport, driving licence or NREGA job card? Yes · Where do you want to open it? On the bank's app or website, with video KYC
4.
Start the account application on the bank's app or website and complete the video call with a bank official (video KYC, V-CIP). Show your original Aadhaar or identity document and your PAN in the call; a printed e-PAN is not accepted. You must be in India during the call.
🏦 Your bank's app or website
📎 Aadhaar, or another officially valid document, PAN card, or Form 60 if you have no PAN
Not confirmed: RBI allows banks to do video KYC but does not require it. Ask your bank whether it opens BSBD or Jan Dhan accounts online.
5.
If the bank opened the account with only an Aadhaar OTP and no video call, complete full KYC (video KYC or at the branch) within one year. Until then, the total balance of all your deposit accounts may not go over ₹1 lakh, nor the total paid into them in a financial year over ₹2 lakh. If KYC is not done within the year, the bank closes the account.
🏦 Your bank (a branch, or video KYC)
📎 Aadhaar, or another officially valid document, PAN card, or Form 60 if you have no PAN
⏱️ within 365 days · Within one year of opening the account.
Only if
In whose name is the account? Mine (18 or older) · Do you have Aadhaar, or another official document such as a voter ID, passport, driving licence or NREGA job card? No, none
6.
Go to a bank branch and ask for a "small account" (chota khata). Give a photo you have signed yourself. Sign, or put your thumb impression, in front of the bank officer.
🏦 A bank branch
📎 A recent photograph
7.
Within 12 months of opening the account, apply for Aadhaar or another official document and give the bank proof that you applied; the account then runs for another 12 months. Until then the limits are: ₹1 lakh paid in during a financial year, ₹10,000 taken out or transferred in a month, and a balance of ₹50,000 at any time. Money from government grants and welfare benefits is not held to the balance limit.
🏦 The branch where you have the account
⏱️ within 365 days · Within 12 months of opening the account.
Only if
In whose name is the account? A child's (under 18)
8.
The mother, father or legal guardian goes to the branch and opens a savings account in the child's name. The mother can open it as the guardian too.
🏦 A bank branch
📎 Identity documents of the child and the guardian
9.
If the child is over 10, ask whether the child may run the account alone, within the age, amount and terms the bank sets. A child's account can never be overdrawn.
🏦 A bank branch
Only if
In whose name is the account? Mine (18 or older)
10.
Ask for what you need: a passbook, a RuPay / ATM card, a cheque book, internet or mobile banking. In a BSBD account these are free: no yearly fee for the card, at least 25 cheque leaves a year, a passbook or monthly statement, and at least 4 free withdrawals a month (ATM withdrawals and transfers included). Deposits have no limit. Digital payments such as UPI, NEFT and IMPS are not counted in those 4. The bank must not make you take services you did not ask for.
🏦 Your bank
💰 Fee: Free · These basic services are free in a BSBD account.
11.
If it is a Jan Dhan account, take the RuPay debit card: it comes with accident insurance of ₹2 lakh (₹1 lakh for accounts opened before 28.8.2018). Eligible account holders can also get an overdraft of up to ₹10,000; ask the bank for its conditions.
🏦 Your bank
Not confirmed: By the Government's 2018 decision, the overdraft is for ages 18 to 65, with no conditions up to ₹2,000. We found the other conditions on no official page we could read; ask the bank.
Only if
Which of these are you? Indian citizen living in India
12.
For government scheme money (pensions, scholarships and the like) to come into this account, the account holder's Aadhaar must be linked to it for DBT: at the branch, fill in and hand over the bank's mandate and consent form. The bank then adds the account to the NPCI mapper. You can check whether it is linked on myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in.
🏦 The branch where you have the account
Only if
In whose name is the account? A child's (under 18)
13.
When the child turns 18, they go to the bank and give a new signature and a new photo, and the KYC documents again if the bank asks.
🏦 The branch where the account is

Another route for you

This guide is for savings accounts of people living in India. Under the foreign exchange rules (FEMA), an Indian citizen living abroad is a non-resident Indian (NRI): you open an NRE or NRO account (or an FCNR(B) deposit) instead. If you had a resident account here when you moved abroad, it has to be re-designated as an NRO account.
Instead, see:
At a bank the RBI allows to keep non-residents' accounts, ask for an NRE account (in rupees; for money sent from abroad, which can be sent back) or an NRO account (in rupees; for income in India). For KYC from abroad, the bank may accept copies of your documents certified by an official of an overseas branch of an Indian scheduled bank, a notary abroad, a court magistrate, a judge, or the Indian embassy or consulate in your country.

You cannot get this

Under FEMA, an OCI cardholder living outside India is a person of Indian origin (PIO): like NRIs, you open an NRE or NRO account (or an FCNR(B) deposit), not the resident accounts in this guide. If you live in India, the RBI pages we read do not say which account you open, or whether the basic savings (BSBD) or Jan Dhan account is open to you.
Instead, see:
At a bank the RBI allows to keep non-residents' accounts, ask for an NRE account (in rupees; for money sent from abroad, which can be sent back) or an NRO account (in rupees; for income in India). For KYC from abroad, the bank may accept copies of your documents certified by an official of an overseas branch of an Indian scheduled bank, a notary abroad, a court magistrate, a judge, or the Indian embassy or consulate in your country.
Not confirmed: Before applying, ask the bank which account you can open and which documents it needs. Under the RBI's KYC rules a passport counts as an identity document; if a foreign national's document has no address, papers from a foreign government department and a letter from the foreign embassy or mission in India count as proof of address.

You cannot get this

The rules for foreign nationals differ from this guide's. A foreign national visiting India can open an NRO savings or current account with money sent from abroad or foreign currency brought in. A bank may open an NRO account for a foreign student with the passport (with visa and immigration stamp), a photo and the admission letter. Pakistani nationals need the RBI's prior approval; Bangladeshi nationals need a valid visa and an FRRO / FRO residential permit. The RBI pages we read do not say whether a foreign national living in India can open the basic savings (BSBD) or Jan Dhan account in this guide.
Not confirmed: Before applying, ask the bank which account you can open and which documents it needs. Under the RBI's KYC rules a passport counts as an identity document; if a foreign national's document has no address, papers from a foreign government department and a letter from the foreign embassy or mission in India count as proof of address.

Fees and time limits

Step 2
💰 Free · No first deposit is needed to open it. The basic services of a BSBD account cost nothing.
Step 3
💰 Free · No first deposit is needed to open it. The basic services of a BSBD account cost nothing.
Step 5
⏱️ within 365 days · Within one year of opening the account.
Step 7
⏱️ within 365 days · Within 12 months of opening the account.
Step 10
💰 Free · These basic services are free in a BSBD account.

If something goes wrong

If it is rejected
If the bank will not open a BSBD / Jan Dhan account, or asks for a minimum balance or a first deposit, first complain to the bank in writing and keep the complaint number. If there is no reply within 30 days, or the reply does not satisfy you, complain free of charge to the RBI Ombudsman on cms.rbi.org.in. Do it within 90 days of the end of those 30 days or of the bank's last reply, whichever is later. On 14448 they explain, in Telugu too, how to complain and what the status is; they do not take complaints by phone.
RBI Ombudsman (CMS portal)
Open the official page ↗
cms.rbi.org.in · opens in a new tab
📞 14448
If you are asked for more money
If the bank takes money for a BSBD account's basic services (the card's yearly fee, the passbook, the first 4 withdrawals of the month) or for not keeping a minimum balance, complain to the bank in writing. If it is not settled within 30 days, complain to the RBI Ombudsman.
RBI Ombudsman (CMS portal)
Open the official page ↗
cms.rbi.org.in · opens in a new tab
📞 14448
If it is late
If you ask in writing for your existing savings account to be turned into a BSBD account, the bank must do it within 7 days. If it does not, or your complaint gets no reply within 30 days, complain to the RBI Ombudsman.
RBI Ombudsman (CMS portal)
Open the official page ↗
cms.rbi.org.in · opens in a new tab
📞 14448
Also
A complaint about a Jan Dhan account can also be written in the complaint form on the Jan Dhan website, and you can check its status there with the reference number. Jan Dhan toll-free numbers: 1800 11 0001 and 1800 180 1111.
Jan Dhan (PMJDY) complaint form
Open the official page ↗
pmjdy.gov.in · opens in a new tab
📞 18001801111

Related guides

→ Passport→ Getting a new Aadhaar→ New PAN card
Updated on 30-10-2026
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