DICGC, the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation, insures bank deposits in India up to ₹5,00,000 per depositor per bank, counting principal and interest together. Its cover extends to all state, central and primary co-operative banks, the category that includes urban co-operative banks and district central co-operative banks, and explicitly includes recurring deposits.
For anyone with a pigmy deposit, DICGC cover is the single most consequential fact to establish about the account, because it does not apply everywhere the product is sold. DICGC states, in its own words, that "Primary cooperative societies are not insured by the DICGC." That means a patpedhi, a credit co-operative society, a Souharda co-operative and a Nidhi company, all common providers of daily-deposit schemes, sit outside DICGC cover entirely, even though their passbooks and collection routine look identical to a bank's.
Two pigmy accounts opened the same way, with the same paperwork and the same daily visit from an agent, can therefore differ completely on this point. One held at a licensed co-operative bank is insured up to ₹5,00,000. The same product at a society is not insured at all. Establishing whether your institution is a bank or a society, by asking for its banking licence, not just its signboard, is the first and most useful question a pigmy depositor can ask, and it is one this site returns to across every guide on the subject.