September 6, 2013
West Bengal Government unveiles the Safe Savings Scheme to protect the interst of poor investors
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday unveiled the Safe Savings Scheme, or the 3S scheme, offering returns comparable with banks. This came through after the State Government sought public opinion to float a social security scheme for the financial inclusion of the poor people and to protect poor investors from illegal deposit-mobilising companies.
The Chief Minister said, “the money will be safe with the State Government. We are doing it so that the poor depositors can get back their money they lost in the Saradha scam. The scheme will be officially launched on October 5. It can be deposited for duration of one to five years and the minimum period for deposit is three months. The amount denominations can be anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000. The interest would be on par with the bank`s rate of interest. “
“Even banks often harass poor depositors when they want to open accounts. So, we will have facilitators who will help the depositors to open their accounts, as every transaction will be through the banks. It is the depositors who`ll decide whether they want to deposit it with the State Government or not “ Ms Mamata Banerjee added.
“The Safe Savings Scheme (3S) will be operated in collaboration with four nationalised banks – the State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, UCO Bank and the United Bank of India,“ said the Chief Minister.
“West Bengal Industrial Development Finance Corporation (WBIDFC), which is also a non-banking financial company, will be paying the installments to the depositors. The depositors can individually deposit up to Rs 1 lakh and a family can together invest up to Rs 5 lakh“ She said.
“There will be 25 new banks in the state by this month, as there is dearth of banks in rural areas. Another two hundred bank branches will be opened shortly to help people deposit their money with the government through the banks“ added the Chief Minister.
West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra added “the biggest difference is the sovereign guarantee of the state government. This will help build depositor confidence“.
On Pension Bill, that was tabled in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said “Trinamool never supported the Bill, and will never support such anti-people Bills. We left UPA II on the FDI issue, this vouches for our pro people stance. “
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