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Mamata Banerjee today invited Bengal's 'millions of toiling masses' to keep their money in the state government's 'Safe Savings Scheme' even though three of the four banks, identified for mobilising the deposits, have refused to participate in the programme.
"This is a unique scheme and government will not touch this fund for any other use. Everybody should join the scheme. Please do not invest in chit fund schemes as those can ruin lives and erode savings of a lifetime," the chief minister said at the formal launch of the deposit scheme here today.
West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (WBIDFC), a financial services company promoted by the state government, in a recent advertisement had mentioned that Allahabad Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), UCO Bank and United Bank of India (UBI) will accept deposits on its behalf for the Safe Savings Scheme.
Allahabad Bank issued a statement saying its name was included in the advertisement without its consent and the lender will not be collecting deposits on behalf of WBIDFC.
SBI and UCO Bank have also declined to participate in the programme.
"UBI has agreed to accept deposits under the Safe Savings Scheme. An agreement has also been signed between WBIDFC and UBI in this respect. The other three banks have sought clarification from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) before they decide to participate in this scheme. We are hopeful that they will also agree," a top executive of WBIDFC said.
Under the Safe Savings Scheme, an individual will first have to open an account with a bank that has agreed to collect deposits on behalf of WBIDFC. The depositor can participate in the programme with a minimum amount of Rs 1,000.
The bank will transfer the money to WBIDFC, which will issue a fixed deposit receipt. As per WBIDFC's advertisement, the deposits can be kept for 12-60 months and will earn 9.00-9.25 per cent interest per annum."Banks have expressed concerns that the account created for collecting the deposit will become inactive once the money is transferred to WBIDFC. But we have assured them that we will be paying interest every quarter, which will be credited to the account and keep it active," the WBIDFC official said.
Bankers, however, said that they were not sure if a non-banking finance company (NBFC) such as WBIDFC can raise public deposits through banks. "Also, we do not know what happens to the deposit because it will not remain with us," a senior executive with one of the three banks that opted out said.As per current norms, WBIDFC is allowed to raise deposits up to 1.5 times of its net worth.
The corporation's current net worth is estimated to be around Rs 760 crore. Hence, it can raise a little over Rs 1,100 crore deposits from the public."The money will be mostly used for financing infrastructure projects. If the state government decides to infuse fresh equity capital in the corporation, our ability to raise deposits will also increase," the WBIDFC official said.
