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Launched in a haste by the Mamata Banerjee-government about two months back, the scheme was projected as as an alternative to fake deposit taking companies in the aftermath of Saradha scam.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (WBIDFC), the agency in-charge of rolling out Safe Saving Scheme, too is going slow in rolling out the scheme in absence of requisite software support needed for a mass rollout.
WBIDFC, which has been banking on about 30000 post office agents and public sector banks for distribution of the scheme, is paying higher commission of 0.1 per cent, against 0.5 per cent for post office schemes, to attract rural depositors. “The scheme is slowly picking up, and we are also not in a hurry to take the scheme to a very high level. At present, my main concern is to put in place a software, as used in banks, for the scheme,” said Abhirup Sarkar Chairman, WBIDFC.
The corporation is taking help of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) ex-bankers to streamline the data synchronisation process. The corporation would have to shell-out at least Rs 14 crore, for a software usable in medium term and comparable with that used in cooperative banks, he added.
The Safe Savings Scheme is similar to a bank deposit scheme, and offers interest rates between 9-9.25 per cent over one to five year time frame. Individual depositors can deposit up to Rs one lakh and a family can together invest up to Rs 5 lakh in the scheme. Earlier, the scheme attracted controversy when Allahabad bank sought clarification from the RBI on whether it can collect public deposits on behalf of the scheme. Notably, one noteworthy feature of West Bengal’s economy is the state’s predominant position in small savings mobilization (raised through post offices) till 2011-11, the highest among all states in India.
However, in one year’s time, between 2010-11 and 2011-12, gross small savings in the state, in alignment with the national trend, fell from Rs 33444 crore to Rs 539 crore (a fall of nearly 98 per cent). The net small savings collections too fell from Rs 8409 crore to negativeRs 51.88 crore, indicating fresh collections were less than redemptions. While bank deposits not seen a major growth since 2011-12 in West Bengal, dubious fund raising companies gained prominence in rural areas in the last two-three years.
