On 5 September 2013, Mamata announced 3S to protect rural savers from being duped by scamsters offering outlandish returns along the lines of classic pyramid cycles ( 3S offered up to 9.25 % in interest - a tad higher than the 9 % offered by SBI, the country's biggest money lender, and most other banks on term deposits).
The scheme was rolled out by the state-owned non-banking finance company (NBFC), the West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (WBIDFC) Limited. The company could raise up to Rs 1,050-1,100 crore in deposits with a minimum lock-in period of three-months.
The government also sought public opinion to float the 3S scheme. The scheme received the RBI's nod last November after clearing the participation of state-run banks in the project. The scheme fitted with the RBI's aim to widen financial inclusion.
State officials said the response so far has been lukewarm. "It's true that the scheme is not picking up. Now it's for the government to take a call on it," said Abhirup Sarkar chairman, WBIDFC.
Officials explained that the scheme's operation was much too complicated for the poor and the rural investors. The other reason was that firms are still flourishing in the state despite the efforts by central agencies like the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the wake of Saradha Group's collapse in April, last year which led to about 2 million depositors losing their savings.
In a letter on January 16, this year, Sebi had given a list of 17 active ponzi firms to the director of economic offences (DEO) cell of the finance department. It had pointed out that the firms were raising money from the public but not returning the maturity amount. These companies did not possess the mandatory certificate of registration to run collective investment schemes. In another letter the same month, Sebi had identified another set of 69 such companies.
Officials said the government has so far been able to collect around Rs 3.5 crore from the depositors. "We are getting feedback from the bank that it wouldn't be possible to continue with the scheme unless it was re-launched with renewed vigour and publicised intensely in the rural sector with warnings against the proliferation of chit funds," a finance department official said. Also, the government is unable to engage the 30,000 agents approved by the small savings directorate as planned because the ponzi firms are offering huge cut-money to their rural agents. Also, WBIDFC was slow in rolling out the scheme in absence of requisite software support needed for a mass rollout.
WBIDFC, which is running the savings programme has tied up with United Bank of India (UBI) where it opened no-frill accounts with minimum customer identification formalities. UBI has been receiving deposits under 3S for a transaction fee of Rs 25 per depositor. It had also named SBI, Uco Bank and Allahabad Bank as a partner but the latter sought RBI's clarification on the rules that brought the plan under scrutiny. WBIDFC later issued fresh advertisements without the names of the banks.
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. Officials said the directorate is in talks with other nationalised banks to open special counters at their branches to facilitate investment.
WBIDFC had planned to place a software, as used in banks, for the scheme with the 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 the software usable in medium term and comparable with that used in cooperative banks. The WBIDFC chairman said, "We haven't been able to install the software."
http://ift.tt/1BidwAQ savings scheme,Mamata Banerjee,Indian Statistical Institute
Stay updated on the go with The Times of India’s mobile apps. Click here to download it for your device.
0 comments:
Post a Comment