Dear Comrades,
|
The
Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology Sh Sachin Pilot informed the Lok Sabha yesterday that the
gross deposit of Small Savings Scheme in Post Offices
declined in the financial year 2011-12 as compared to the year
2010-11.
The
decline of gross deposit in small savings schemes is, among other things, due
to investor’s choice of alternative instruments for effecting savings. The
Government has taken following measures to make the small saving schemes more
attractive:-
1.
The rate of interest on Post Office Savings Account (POSA) has been increased
from 3.5% to 4%. The ceiling of maximum balance in POSA 1 lakh in single account and 2 lakh
in joint account) has been removed.
2.
The maturity period for Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) and National Savings Certificate
(NSC) has been reduced from 6 years to 5 years.
3.
A new NSC instrument, with maturity period of 10 years, has been introduced.
4.
The annual ceiling on investment under Public Provident Fund (PPF) Scheme has
been increased from ` 70,000 to ` 1 lakh.
5.
Liquidity of Post Office Time Deposit (POTD) – 1, 2, 3 & 5 years – has been
improved by allowing pre-mature withdrawal at a rate of interest 1% less than
the time deposits of comparable maturity. For pre-mature withdrawals
between 6-12 months of investment, Post Office
Savings Account (POSA) rate of interest has been allowed.
6.
Central and State Governments take various measures from time to time to
promote and popularise small saving scheme through
print and electronic media as well as by holding seminars, meetings and
providing training to the various agencies involved in mobilising
deposits under various small savings schemes. The rate of interest on Small
Savings Schemes has been aligned with Government-Security rates of similar maturity
with a spread of 25 basis points (bps) in all schemes except 10 Years National
Savings Certificates (IX-Issue) and Sr. Citizens Savings Scheme where the
spread of 50 bps and 100 bps has been given respectively (100 bps are equal
to 1%). Interest rate for every financial year will now be notified
before 1st April of that year.
There
were 26,01,69,920 number of operational small savings
accounts in the Post Offices as on 31.03.2012 and the amount
deposited therein upto the end of March 2012
was Rs. 190732.73 crore .
2,84,10,593 accounts were closed by customers during
financial year 2011-12.
****
BK/AT
(Release ID :87518) |
