Dear Comrades,
Deposit mobilisation through postal savings schemes in West Bengal has not seen much growth in 2012-13. According to the Postmaster General, J Panda, the gross mobilisation grew by 1.27 per cent in 2012-13 against 8.62 per cent in the previous fiscal.
There could be more than one reason for the sharp drop in mobilisation, Panda said at an event organised by MCC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, here on Wednesday, adding that monthly income schemes declined owing to reduced incentives such as bonus. “Smart investors moved out to other savings propositions providing better yield,” he said.
In absolute terms, deposit mobilisation in 2012-13 was Rs 23,871 crore against Rs 23,571 crore in 2011-12. In 2010-11, the figure was Rs 21,700 crore.
During the last fiscal, proliferation of various deposit collection schemes run by private operators reportedly mopped up huge sums of money from small depositors. Some of these, without any regulatory approvals, also promised extraordinary returns. However, early this fiscal, some such rackets were busted when they failed to pay up the investors.
Panda said despite predominance of e-mails and private mail services, Speed Post remained the leader, growing at the rate of 20 per cent a year. “It’s reach is now not restricted to cities, it has expanded to villages too.”
“Bulk mails have replaced individual communication in terms of popularity. For example, recently, the State Government used India Post services for 61 lakh rural job scheme (MGNREGA) related communications”, he added.
In terms of speedy and timely delivery of mails, India Post now uses new technologies including mobile telephony, the Postmaster General added.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com
