Financial inclusion provides the legitimate provisions of basic banking services with adequate financial securities to the unbanked population at a reasonable cost. Since the early decade of the 20th century, the cooperative system has been engaged to percolate financial inclusion in various strata of our society. Several initiatives regarding financial inclusion have been implemented in the post-independence period; however, the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) 2014 has been considered as one of the most fruitful and effective initiatives by the Government of India for opening no-frill bank accounts with zero balance facilities for financially excluded people in our country, and the cooperative banks have been playing a vital role in the process of implementing the said Yojana. The present study, based on Hooghly District Central Cooperative Bank (HDCCB) and Burdwan Central Cooperative Bank (BCCB) of West Bengal, has comprehended to investigate the role of the DCCBs in the process of financial inclusion with respect to a number of financial operations and annual changes of savings accounts over the second decade of the 21st century. The study has identified statistically significant segments of the financial operations. Those segments are consequences of several fluctuations in financial operations due to the changes in banking policy, implementation of PMJDY, demonetisation, loss of agriculture production, adverse effects of COVID-19 and also the national economic downturn. Finally, it has been observed that the implementation of PMJDY significantly gave rise to the business of the HDCCB and also acted as a threshold point of financial inclusion than its counterpart in the Burdwan district of West Bengal.

Financial inclusion, demonetisation, self-help group, community sensitisation, Jan-Dhan Yojana, low-risk customers

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