The Minister of State for Communications &
Information Technology Sh Sachin Pilot informed
the Lok Sabhayesterday 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 ` 1lakh.
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. *