Annexures (Part 1 of 2) - RBI - Reserve Bank of India
Annexures (Part 1 of 2)
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(Chairman: Dr. C. Rangarajan) |
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(Chairman: Shri R.V. Gupta) |
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(Chairman: Shri R.V. Gupta) |
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Expert Committee for Devising a Pension System in India,1999 |
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(Chairman: Shri S.A. Dave) |
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Expert Committee for Devising a Pension System in India, 2000 |
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(Chairman: Shri S.A. Dave) |
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(World Bank, 2001) |
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(Chairman: Dr. Parthasarathi Shome) |
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Constitution of the Expert Committee No. F.5(7)-PD/2001 Government of India, Ministry of Finance Department of Economic Affairs (Budget Division)
New Delhi, the 19th April 2001
OFFICE ORDER
Subject:- Constitution of an Expert Committee to review the system of administered interest rates and other related issues.
It has been decided by the Government to set up an Expert Committee to review the system of administered interest rates and other related issues.
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The Committee will consist of the following: |
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(i) |
Dr. Y.V. Reddy, |
Chairman |
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Deputy Governor, RBI; |
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(ii) |
Dr. Rakesh Mohan, |
Member |
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Adviser to FM; |
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(iii) |
Shri D. Swarup, |
Member |
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Joint Secretary, |
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Budget Department of |
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Economic Affairs; |
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(iv) |
Shri Anupam Das Gupta, |
Member |
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Principal Secretary |
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(Finance), Government of |
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Maharashtra; |
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(v) |
Shri K.R. Lakhanpal, |
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Principal Secretary (Finance), |
Member |
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Government of Punjab; |
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(vi) |
Shri Vinod Rai, |
Member |
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Principal Secretary (Finance), |
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Government of Kerala; |
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( vii) |
Shri Ashok Gupta, |
Member |
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Principal Secretary (Finance), |
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Government of West Bengal; |
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(viii) |
Dr. R.H. Patil, |
Member |
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Former Chairman, National |
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Stock Exchange; |
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(ix) |
Dr. Suman Bery, |
Member |
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Director General, NCAER, |
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New Delhi, and |
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(x) |
Shri. M.G. Bhide, Chairman, |
Member |
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National Institute |
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of Bank Management |
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The Committee may co-opt member(s) or special invitees to aid its deliberations.
3. The terms of reference of the Committee will be as under:
- To suggest criteria for bench-marking of administered interest rates;
- To suggest the periodicity of revision of administered interest rates;
- To examine the feasibility of transferring the entire net proceeds of small savings to the State Governments on a back-to- back basis;
- To make recommendations on other aspects of small savings like designing of instruments, engagement of agents and rules governing the deposits and withdrawals;
- To make recommendations on issues related to the interest rates; and
- To make such other recommendations as the Committee may deem appropriate on the subject.
4.The Committee will submit its recommendations to the Ministry of Finance within a period of four months.
5. The Committee will be serviced by the Reserve Bank of India.
Sd/- (D.Swarup) Joint Secretary to the Government of India
Committee on Small Savings-1991 (Chairman : Dr. C. Rangarajan) Summary of Observations and Major Recommendations
Government of India constituted a committee for reviewing the existing arrangement of small saving schemes under the Chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan. The Committee in Part I of its report (submitted in January 1991) examined the existing small saving instruments and various provisions governing these instruments to find out if there is any need for improvement in this schemes to increase the collections. The Committee considered the option of entrusting small saving operations to a body corporate outside the Government. However, the Committee felt that the operation of small saving by a body outside the Government would adversely affect credibility of the instrument resulting in consequent shortfall in mobilisation. The Committee submitted Part II of its report in March 1991, examined the organisational arrangements with regard to the administration of small saving schemes including the issue of body corporate outside the Government. In this report, the Committee suggested a number of proposals as set out below:
- The existing pattern of administering Small Saving Schemes may continue.
- However, setting up of a separate body may be feasible as a subsidiary of the RBI, or otherwise for undertaking operations in regard to National Savings Scheme, 1987.
- The proposed body outside the Government will be responsible both for collections and for release of loans to the State Governments.
- The proposed body outside the Government will determine with approval of the Government of India, the terms and conditions of loans to be released by that body to the State Governments.
- The States to be represented to the Board of Directors for proposed body. The proposed body outside the Government will obtain the prior approval of the Government of India for framing any scheme or for making any change in the schemes operated by that body.
- The existing forum of the Finance Commission will continue to be available for raising the issues relating to small savings even after a separate body has been set up.
Committee on Small Savings, 1998 (Chairman: Shri R.V. Gupta) Summary of Observations and Major Recommendations
A conference of Finance Ministers from States was held in November 1997 at which some issues relating to small savings were discussed. To resolve the issues raised in the conference, the Union Finance Minister constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of Shri R. V. Gupta, former Deputy Governor, RBI, with representation from States, which had gone into the different parameters of the collections, disbursement of loans and cost of small saving schemes. The Committee submitted its report in September 1998 with following recommendations:
1. A statement capturing all the transactions of small saving schemes should be introduced in the Budget documents for clarity and transparency.
2. The Government may reconsider the manner of exhibiting the payment of loans net of small savings collections in the Budget documents.
3. The operation of small savings through a body corporate can be considered only if the Government of India guarantee continues for small savings instruments. This issue would need to be examined in all its ramifications before a final decision is taken.
4. In regard to the issue of transfer of work relating to small saving schemes to the State governments, the balance of advantage was continuing with the schemes being administered by the Central Government, as at present.
5. From the existing small saving schemes, the National Savings Scheme, 1992, Post Office Time Deposit of 2 and 3 years maturity and Indira Vikas Patra may be discontinued.
6. New small saving schemes for the well being of girl child as also the education of children in the nature of recurring deposit or deep discount bonds, offering maturity of 10,15 or 20 years may be introduced.
7. The existing ceiling limits for deposits of PPF, MIA and POSA may be enhanced.
8. The interest rates of small savings should be benchmarked to the rates of similar instruments offered by banks and all India financial institutions.
- The benchmark of rate of interest of Post Office Savings Accounts may be the rate of interest of the Savings Accounts in Banks with a positive margin of 0.5% as in Co-operative Banks.
- Rate of interest on Post Office Time Deposits and Post Office Recurring Deposits may be benchmarked to the average of the rates of interest of the corresponding schemes of five main banks with a positive margin of 0.5%.
- Monthly Income Account may be benchmarked with MIP of UTI with a positive margin of 0.5%.
- Rate of interest on KVP may be set at par with the benchmarked rates on similar instruments of all India financial institutions.
- The rate of interest on PPF would be set at par with the rate of interest on GPF.
- NSC-VIII Issue should be set at par with reference to the benchmark rates on other similar tax saving instruments.
- The benchmark for DSRE should be rates of interest on the RBI Relief Bonds with a zero margin.
9. The net collections under the small savings cannot be disbursed to the State/UT Governments as ‘loan in perpetuity’ or ‘grants’.
10.The procedure for the determination of the on-lending rate of small savings loans to State/UT Governments should be based on a time stream model of 25 years showing cash flow due to payments and receipts of GoI under small saving schemes.
11.An alternative to the present period of loan could be considered taking 15 years with no moratorium as an option.
12. (a) The Institutions should not be permitted to invest in small saving schemes with the possible exception in relation to investment of surplus funds of farmers’/labour cooperatives as well as self-help groups.
(b) small saving schemes should be made eligible for investment by Employees Provident Fund.
13. Automatic renewal in the schemes like POMIA, NSC-VIII Issue and KVP may be introduced. The feasibility of extension of automatic renewal for NSC-VIII issue may be examined keeping in view the income-tax benefits.
14. Small savings certificates like KVP and NSC-VIII Issue may be allowed to be sold through banks also.
15. The commission to SAS and PPF agents should be paid at the flat rate of 1%. In respect of PORD Scheme i.e. MPKBY agents and PRSG, a uniform rate of 4% for the former and 2.5% for the latter was recommended.
16. (a) Remuneration to Department of Posts constituting 1.7% of gross deposits at present should be reduced to achieve a norm of 1% of gross deposits within a period of 5 years.
(b) Rs.30 crores may be provided for purchase of computers to the Department of Posts for greater accuracy and efficiency.
17.(a) Commission to agents may be paid at the time of depositing the savings in Post Offices/banks.Agents would deposit the savings net of agency commission.
- SAS and PPF Agency Systems may be merged together. Both NSO and State Government would be the appointing authorities. Prescribed procedure must be strictly adhered to and all appointments/renewals/ terminations made by State authorities must be conveyed to Regional Directors of NSO.
- Identity Cards may be issued to agents to safeguard the interest of the small investors. Common registration facility for agents may be maintained both by NSO and State Governments.
- A review of ceilings with respect to cash handled by agents as well as the amount of fidelity guarantees obtained at the time of appointment/renewal of agencies should be reviewed.
- There should be a regular and periodical co-ordination/review at the state level between the NSO and state savings organisations.
18. The Committee recommended that the present ceilings for information of deposits exceeding Rs.50,000 which can be sought by Income-Tax authorities may be considered for enhancement.
Committee on Small Savings, 1999 (Chairman: Shri R.V. Gupta) Summary of Observations and Major Recommendations
In the Inter State Council meeting in December 1998, the Finance Minister agreed to consider one of the recommendations made by the R. V. Gupta Committee on Small Savings-1998, i.e., the transfer of work of small saving to an organization outside the Government of India. In order to effect the same, Government of India set up another Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri R. V. Gupta. The Committee was advised to suggest the constitution and the manner of working of the new organization and its relationship with the Ministry of Finance and other Government organisations. It has also asked to suggest changes required in the working of the post offices so as to segregate the work of small savings and PPF from Government business.
According to the report of the Committee, the body corporate, even if formed, has to continue its function through the existing extensive network of post offices and branches of public sector banks. Moreover, it suggested that all crucial decisions regarding policy measures would necessarily continue to be governed by the Ministry of Finance. Most importantly, it felt that investor confidence in the small saving schemes might be shaken if the name and guarantee of the Government of India is withdrawn. The committee, therefore, concluded that the transfer of small savings to a body corporate would not be feasible.
The committee, however, recommended establishing a ‘National Small Savings Fund of India’ to be created vide the National Small Savings Fund Rules under Article 283 of the Indian Constitution. All small savings collections would be credited to this. All withdrawals of small savings would be made out of the accumulations in the fund. The sharing of the net collections by the Centre and States would be treated as investments of the Fund in Government securities. The investment pattern would be as per norms decided from time to time by the concerned administrative body. The debt servicing of these Government securities would be an income of the Fund while the interest payment and costs of management of small savings would be expenditures of the Fund.
Expert Committee for Devising a Pension System in India 1999 (Chairman: Shri S.A. Dave) Summary of Observations and Major Recommendations
Pension and Provident fund provisions were in place for long to provide significant income security during old age of employees in the Central and State Governments. In view of the likely strain that these provisions can impose on future Government finances, the Ministry of Finance has appointed this Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri S. A. Dave. The Committee submitted its first Report in February 1999.
The Committee observed that some form of income and social security at present covers only 11 per cent of the population in the organized sector. The Committee also mentioned the problems to be faced by the present set up of pension funds management due to demographic changes like increasing life expectancy at birth and consequent rise in the number of elder people to total population.
According to the Committee, pension benefits accruable to individual consist of two sources; his contribution and investment return received out of that contribution by the trustee. While, the existing contributions made by the beneficiaries are high, the pension fund in India fares poorly in terms of providing adequate investment returns. Further, the issue of fiduciary responsibility of the trust was never emphasised either by the regulator or by the beneficiary. While certain amount of risk in ensuring higher returns is inevitable, it is, nevertheless possible to ensure reasonably higher return with moderate risk by designing the investment portfolio in a suitable way.
Further, the Committee found serious flaws in implementing the existing provisions, such as, poor customer service, a highly permissive approach towards premature withdrawals, inefficient asset management and end-use of long-term funds. Consequently, the Committee recommended that the investment guidelines should be amended substantially both for the organized and unorganized sector providing more flexibility to funds manager. In case of PPF, the Committee suggested liberation of investment guidelines under the direction of the independent board of trustees, subject to the transitional qualifications requiring a 40 per cent allocation to State Government Securities.
Expert Committee for Devising a Pension System in India, 2000 (Chairman: Shri S.A. Dave) Summary of Observations and Major Recommendations
The Expert Committee for Devising a Pension System in India has submitted its second report in January 2000, where it made numerous recommendations for pension sector reforms, including an outline for a new pension system. Main features of the suggested schemes are outline as under:
- Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) will be created. The individual would be empowered in having control of how his pension assets would be managed. He will have a choice of fund managers and products with varying risk profiles.
- He would make voluntary contributions into this account throughout his working life.
- Since the contributions are voluntary, distribution channels will play an important role. Training would become critical. A large base of trained and certified ‘Retirement Advisors’ would be made available.
- Contributions may be of small amounts. Hence accounting of the same has to be safe and proper.
- A key feature of the system is points-of-presence (POPs) - to ensure easy access. Post offices and bank branches will be POPs to start with. All transactions of IRA will be done through these POPs located anywhere in India.
- Individual accounts will have full portability - IRA can be carried across job changes and different locations.
- Record keeping will be centralized and there will be a Central Depository.
- Six pension fund managers (PFM) have been recommended who may bid for five years. Central Depository will transfer blocks of funds to PFMs.
- The individuals could change the funds managers if they are not satisfied with their performance.
- For premature withdrawals from the fund, disincentives have been recommended.
- Awareness programs through NGOs and other welfare associations have to be in place as the targeted market may include literate and semi-literate.
- The PFM will offer schemes of three styles - Safe Income, Balanced Income and Growth.
- Favourable tax treatment for contributions, funds and annuity payments.
- The Pension Authority would regulate pension markets.
- The pension system will comprise of four components - the POP, the PFM, the Depository and the Annuity Provider.
According to the report, by 2015 the central government is expected to incur Rs.271,830 million out of government revenue to service pension liabilities as against Rs. 35,690 million in 1995. The compounding rate of increase in the government’s liability is expected to be 10.7 per cent per annum.
The Committee also emphasized the need to devise a scheme for the unorganized sector with continuous and uninterrupted contributions, which in conjunction with adequate returns would provide considerable income security at the old age.
India - The Challenge of Old Age Income Security (World Bank 2001*) Summary of Observations and Recommendations
One-eighth of the world’s elderly population lives in India, a vast majority of whom is not covered by any formal pension system. They are essentially relying on some informal systems of old age security comprising their own earnings and transfers, mostly from children. As the population ages, the challenge of providing old age income security mounts, although the existing informal system is imperfect and inadequate. This report is all about the reforms that can help to address the challenge of social and income security to the elderly population in India.
The main problems with the existing pension funds schemes in India are identified as follows:
- The compulsory defined contribution scheme for private sector workers is found to have excessive contribution rates, while providing low returns and deficient service to beneficiaries.
- High contribution rates are partly the result of forced savings for reasons that go far beyond old age survivorship and disability induced by a plethora of withdrawal options.
- The new, Defined Benefit (DB) scheme for private sector workers appears to be under-funded. Further, it exposes members to inflation risk.
- Furthermore, the DB formula applied in public and private sector schemes cause inequitable redistribution between workers and encourage early retirement.
- The DB scheme that covers civil servants is completely un-funded and has accumulated very large liabilities estimated at close to one third of GDP, even excluding the liabilities of state enterprises that are likely to be quite large.
- Investment policy for funded pension schemes provides captive credits that encourage government consumption rather than savings and does not help deepening private capital markets or allocating long term savings effectively.
- Tax treatment is inconsistent and discourages contractual saving instruments.
The Report suggested two alternative cases of social security as reform options along with their implications. In the first case, a ‘basic pension’ scheme should replace the defined benefit scheme for private sector workers. This first tier or ‘pillar’ of the reformed system would provide a minimum level of old age income for formal sector workers. In addition, an improved version of the current defined contribution scheme is suggested with more appropriate rules for investment and withdrawal. This ‘second pillar’ would be used exclusively for old age, death or permanent disability and might involve some moderate level of mandated annuitisation. Poverty alleviation for the majority of the elderly who will remain outside the formal system of pension funds would be addressed through increasedfunding and better administration. The baseline actuarial projections show that higher benefit levels can be achieved in this case through protection against inflation, while reducing the overall contribution rate by six percentage points.
The second case aims at modest replacement rate and eliminates redistribution between members of scheme altogether. Instead, redistribution and poverty alleviation is achieved through the social assistance scheme, which is likely to reach the truly poor. In this case, the DB scheme for the private sector would be phased out altogether, although obligations already incurred since its inception in 1995 would be honored. This option allows the contribution rate to be halved.
In addition to these two cases of pension reform, the provident fund scheme could be improved by eliminating many withdrawals options and liberalizing investment rules under a new set of regulations to reap higher return. A greater degree of competition among providers would be achieved by gradually increasing the number of exempt funds and licensing asset managers and plan administrators that met strict regulatory standards. Coverage of small firms and the self-employed would be encouraged through ‘open funds’ operated with the same infrastructure and under the same regulatory umbrella, thereby reducing transaction costs. A strong and well-staffed supervisor would oversee the private players.
These new infrastructures would provide a viable alternative for younger civil servants. In the long run, public and private sector employees would all belong to a seamless web of employer-based, defined-contribution schemes with completely portable accounts. This would increase labour mobility. At the same time, it would commit the Government to make new contributions to the pension scheme on behalf of its employees. This important policy shift is also consistent with the recent announcement of a new defined contribution plan for new civil servants by Central Government beginning in October 2001.
Finally, tax exempted retirement savings would be offered within the new framework, harmonizing voluntary and mandatory arrangements. Favourable tax treatment would be accorded only to contractual saving instruments. Better returns, improved service and appropriate tax incentives would be the key strategy towards expanding coverage in the formal system rather than new government mandates.
The authors nevertheless suspect that even the best systemic reform cannot guarantee participation of the lowest income groups in India, as many households at the bottom of the income distribution are simply not able to save and therefore, have a strong preference for liquidity. Realistically, only the social assistance schemes targeted to the elderly will reach the lifetime poor. Therefore, the report advocates increasing resources for these programmes in conjunction with parallel measures that will substantially improve targeting. This would require a level of monitoring and evaluation that has not been observed in India till date.
Some of the conditions for proceeding with such a reform appear to be favourable in India. There is growing improvements in the capital market infrastructure and regulatory environment, along with the recent privatization efforts that may create facilitating environment for designing effective investment norm of pension funds. Perhaps the greatest hurdle, however, is the current fiscal situation. The pace of reform may hinge on Government’s ability to reduce its dependence on the contributions of formal sector workers as a captive source of financing. This will be difficult as long as budget deficits are as large as they have been in recent years. Nevertheless, authors hoped that the short-term fiscal situation should not deter pension reformers from embarking on the long and complex process of devising a new pension system.
Advisory Group on Tax Policy and Tax Administration (Chairman: Dr. Partharsarathi Shome) Summary of Observations and Major Recommendations
The Planning Commission set up an Advisory Group under the Chairmanship of Dr. Parthasarathi Shome to study tax policy and tax administration issues and make appropriate recommendations at different levels of Government with the purpose of generating adequate resources of the Tenth Five Year Plan.
In the meeting of mid-term appraisal of the Ninth Plan, the Prime Minister asked the Planning Commission to examine the possibility of raising the growth target of the economy to 9 per cent for the Tenth Plan from 6.5 per cent in the Ninth Plan. Keeping this objective in mind, the Group has made revenue projections for Tenth Plan period based on an overall growth in GDP of 15 per cent in nominal terms. The Group retained the real GDP target at 9.0 per cent per annum throughout the Tenth Plan period (2002-03 to 2006-07). This would imply an inflation rate of 6.0 per cent per annum throughout the Plan period to maintain at 15.0 per cent growth of nominal GDP.
Consistent with GDP target, the Group has used certain parameter range for working out desirable levels of debt and deficit to stabilize these in the medium term. These parameters are:
Effective Interest Rate on |
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Government |
10 per cent +/– |
Borrowings |
percentage point |
Revenue Receipt |
19 per cent +/– 2 |
GDP ratio |
percentage point |
Growth Rate |
8 per cent +/–1 |
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percentage point |
Inflation Rate |
6 per cent +/–1 |
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percentage point |
Interest Payment |
30 per cent + 10 |
to Revenue |
percentage point |
Receipt |
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The Group has made recommendations broadly on tax policy measures and tax administration. In the sphere of tax policy measures, the Group covered the areas of direct and indirect taxes coming under Central Government (viz., personal income, corporation tax, Union excise duties and custom duties) and States taxes such as sales tax, state excise duties, registration fees, stamp duty, motor vehicle tax, goods and passenger tax and profession tax and issues relating to VAT.
The recommendations for strengthening tax administration cover both direct and indirect taxes. On the direct taxes side, the Group emphasises on computerisation in tax administration, usage of Permanent Account Number (PAN) for all taxation purposes and institutional strengthening. On the indirect taxes front, the Group suggested rationalisation of SSI exemption scheme to check evasion and excise structure, integration of CENVAT and State VAT and improvement in payment system. The major recommendations of the Group with regard to personal income tax are:
- Retention of the existing three rate structure with modification in slabs; maximum marginal rate of personal income tax rate be retained at 30 per cent and the surcharge should be removed. Correction must be made to remove bracket creep from the structure by broadbasing the various brackets/slabs.
- Income of various funds which receive double income tax benefit should be subjected to tax at the lowest marginal rate of personal income tax, i.e., at 10 per cent.
- Ceiling on exemption on Personal Income be brought down from Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 15,000 in the next budget.
- Abolition of tax incentives under Sections 80CCC, 88, 80L and 10(15) of the Income Tax Act is recommended.
- The tax concessions under Sections 80D, 80DD, 80DDB and 80E of the Income Tax Act should be given in the form of tax credit rather than in the form of deductions for savings/investment. The rate of tax credit should be restricted to 10 per cent, being the minimum marginal rate of personal income tax. The rebate should be further subjected to a ceiling equal to 10 per cent of the maximum investment permissible under the respective provisions.
- Since the computation of capital gains provides for inflation adjustment of cost of the asset and relief from higher marginal rate of tax due to bunching of gains (it is taxed at 20 per cent), the roll over provisions under Sections 54, 54B, 54D, 54EA and 54EB of the Income Tax Act should be done away with.
List of Background Papers |
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Small Saving Schemes–An Overview |
Ministry of Finance |
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Issues Relating to Benchmarking of Administered |
Shri K.Kanagasabapathy |
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Interest Rates |
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Issues Arising out of the Terms of Reference of the |
Dr. B. K. Bhoi |
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Expert Committee on Administered Interest Rates |
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Small Saving Mobilisation in West Bengal During |
Shri B. M. Misra |
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the Nineties |
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5. |
Need for Rationalisation of Small Saving Schemes |
Dr. Charan Singh |
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6. |
Benchmarking of Interest Rates on Small Saving |
Shri Sanjay Kumar |
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Instruments |
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7. |
System of Administered Interest Rates and Social |
Shri G. Gurumurthy |
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Security Schemes: An International Experience |
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8. |
Transferring the Entire Proceeds of Small Savings |
Shri S. M. Pillai |
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to State Governments : Feasibility and Fiscal |
Shri Bhupal Singh |
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Implications |
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9. |
Administered Structure of Interest Rates in India: |
Smt. K. Kaushalya, |
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Issues Relating to Tax Incentives, Instrument |
Shri Bhupal Singh |
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Design, Agents and Agenda for Reforms |
Shri Jai Chander |
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10. |
Interest Rates in India: Historical Perspective, |
Shri Saibal Ghosh |
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Policy Issues and Emerging Scenario |
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11. |
Interest Rates on Small Saving vis-à-vis |
Dr. Kaushik Bhattacharya and |
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Other Rates: A Comparative Analysis |
Dr. Balwant Singh |
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12. |
Inflation as a Benchmark for Interest Rates on |
Shri Jeevan Kumar |
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Small Saving Instruments: An Empirical Exercise |
Khundrakpam |
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13. |
Administered Interest Rates in India: A Critical |
Shri Rajib Das |
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Evaluation of the Principle, Policy and Rules |
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Governing their Operations |
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List of Technical Papers |
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Author |
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1. |
Shri K. Kanagasabapathy |
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2. |
Shri K. Kanagasabapathy |
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3. |
Dr. D. V. S. Sastry |
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4. |
Shri Sanjay Kumar |
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5. |
Shri S. M. Pillai and Shri Bhupal Singh |
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6. |
Shri S.M. Pillai, Smt. K. Kaushalya, Shri Bhupal Singh and Shri Jai Chander |
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Operation of Small Saving Schemes in India
Interest rates on small savings have been administered by the Government as part of the initiative to mobilize resources from the grass-root level. However, over a period of time, the state of financial market had transformed to such an extent that could hardly justify any interest rate regulation in India. Under this backdrop, an attempt has been made here to examine the recent trends in the mobilisation, the existing structure of interest rates, the effective cost of borrowing and few other related issues of small saving schemes. Apart from that, it also examined the institutional arrangements and change in the accounting procedure of the same.
An Overview of Small Saving Schemes
The small saving schemes have been essentially designed to meet different needs of small investors. Department of Post has been playing an increasingly effective role for the promotion of the small savings in the rural and remote areas through village post offices. Commercial banks through their extensive network of branches have been actively involved in the mobilisation of small savings as well. Apart from the post office and commercial banks, National Savings Organisation (NSO) was also set up to spread the message of thrift and to inculcate the habit of savings in the people. The NSO is coordinating between State Governments, Post Offices and Government of India for smooth operation of these schemes. Apart from the field staff of the NSO, the work of popularization of small saving schemes and securing investments from the public is done through various extension agencies. At present, a number of schemes are operating in India through a network of over 1.54 lakh post offices and 8000 branches of Public Sector Banks. The salient features of these schemes are outlined in Table 1.
Most of the State Governments have also set up their own organisations/Small Savings Directorates to popularise small saving schemes in their respective States, in both urban and rural areas. The State Governments organise aggressive publicity campaigns through various methods to increase public awareness of small savings and also offer attractive incentives to the agents as well as investors.
Resource Mobilisation Trend under Small Savings
The aggregate receipt through small saving schemes rose from Rs. 785 crore in 1970-71 to Rs. 3,119 crore in 1980-81, Rs.18,049 crore in 1990-91 and Rs.54,831 crore in 1998-99. The outstanding liabilities on account of small savings also increased sharply from Rs.1,281 crore in 1970-71 to Rs.53,517 crore in 1990-91 and Rs.1,55,159 crore in 1998-99 (Table 2).
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SCHEME |
INTEREST RATES, PERIODICITY |
TAX INCENTIVES |
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ETC. |
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1. |
Post Office Savings Account |
3.5 per cent per annum on individual/joint and group accounts. |
Interest is exempt from income tax under Section 10 of the Income Tax Act. |
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2. |
5-Year Post Office Recurring Deposit Account |
Compounded quarterly. Rs.10/- recurring account fetches Rs.758.5 on maturity. |
Interest earned is deductible under Section 80L of I.T. Act. |
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|
|
|
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||
3. |
Post Office Time Deposit Account |
Interest payable annually but compounded quarterly. |
Interest deductible under Section 80L of I.T. Act. Deposits are exempt from Wealth Tax. |
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|
|
PERIOD |
RATES |
|
|
|
|
1-Year |
7.5% |
|
|
|
|
2-Year |
8.0% |
|
|
|
|
3-Year |
9.0% |
|
|
|
|
5-Year |
9.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. |
Post Office Monthly Income Scheme |
9.5 per cent per annum payable monthly. In addition, 10 per cent bonus payable on maturity. |
Interest and Bonus deductible under Section 80L of I.T. Act. |
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|
|
|
|
||
5. |
6-Year National Savings Certificate (VIII Issue) |
Compounded half yearly. Amount inclusive of interest payable at maturity on a certificate of Rs.100 denomination is Rs.174.52. |
Deposit qualify for tax rebate under Section 88 of I.T. Act. The interest accruing annually but deemed to be reinvested will also qualify for tax rebate under section 88 of I.T. Act. Such interest will be entitled to deduction under Section 80L of the Income Tax Act. |
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|
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|
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||
6. |
4-Year National Savings Scheme Account 1992 |
9.0 per cent payable annually. |
The amount deposited in a year qualifies for tax rebate under Section 88 of I.T. Act. The interest is deductible under Section 80L of I.T. Act. |
||
|
|
|
|
||
7. |
15-Year Public Provident Fund Account |
9.5 per cent per annum, compounded yearly |
Deposits qualify for Income Tax rebate under Section 88 of I.T. Act. Deposits completely exempt from Wealth Tax. Interest credited to the fund is totally exempt from income tax. |
||
|
|
|
|
||
8. |
6-Year Kisan Vikas Patra |
Money doubles in 7 yrs. 3 months, implying interest rate of 10.03 per cent per annum. |
Amount of interest accrued every year can be shown for Income Tax purposes. No tax deduction at source. |
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|
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|
|
||
9. |
Deposit Scheme For Retiring Govt. Employees 1989 (3-Year) |
8.5 per cent per annum payable half yearly on 30th June and 31st December. |
Interest earned is fully exempt from income tax under Section 10(15) of I.T. Act. |
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|
|
|
|
||
10. |
Deposit Scheme For Retiring Employees Of Public Sector Companies 1991(3-Year) |
8.5 per cent per annum payable half yearly on 30th June and 31st December. |
Interest earned is fully exempt from income tax under Section 10(15) of I.T. Act. |
||
|
|
|||||
Section 88 |
: Tax rebate (Tax credit) equal to 20 per cent (up to a ceiling of |
||||
|
Rs. 16,000/-) on deposit is available. This includes tax rebate of |
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|
Rs. 4,000/- for investment in infrastructure bonds. |
||||
Section 80L |
: Tax deduction upto Rs 12,000/- available on interest income. |
||||
Section 10 |
: Withdrawals completely exempt from the payment of income-tax. |
||||
The decade-wise average growth of receipt and outstanding amount has been worked out group-wise for deposits, certificates and PPF as well as for the aggregate. In case of deposits, both receipt and outstanding amounts accelerated in the nineties over the previous decade. The growth of certificates and PPF was, however, lower in the nineties both in terms of receipt and outstanding as compared to the previous two decades. At the aggregate level, the growth of receipt and outstanding declined to 15.4 and 15.1 per cent respectively during the nineties, as compared with 18.2 and 19.7 per cent during the eighties (Table 3).
|
|
||||||||
Year |
Total Deposits |
Total Certificates |
Public Provident Fund |
Total |
||||
|
Receipts |
Out- |
Receipts |
Out- |
Receipts |
Out- |
Receipts |
Out- |
|
|
standings |
|
standings |
|
standings |
|
standings |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(2+4+6) |
(3+5+7) |
|
|
||||||||
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
|
|
||||||||
1970-71 |
695 |
1184 |
88 |
92 |
2 |
5 |
785 |
1281 |
1971-72 |
818 |
1416 |
96 |
188 |
_ |
_ |
914 |
1604 |
1972-73 |
970 |
1772 |
77 |
263 |
_ |
_ |
1047 |
2035 |
1973-74 |
1222 |
2272 |
64 |
320 |
4 |
16 |
1290 |
2608 |
1974-75 |
1243 |
2571 |
77 |
377 |
5 |
21 |
1325 |
2969 |
1975-76 |
1445 |
3179 |
99 |
455 |
9 |
30 |
1553 |
3664 |
1976-77 |
1595 |
3607 |
110 |
543 |
11 |
40 |
1716 |
4190 |
1977-78 |
1846 |
4130 |
168 |
635 |
19 |
59 |
2033 |
4824 |
1978-79 |
2188 |
4777 |
340 |
893 |
35 |
94 |
2563 |
5764 |
1979-80 |
2509 |
5658 |
361 |
1179 |
48 |
141 |
2918 |
6978 |
1980-81 |
2758 |
6632 |
302 |
1412 |
59 |
200 |
3119 |
8244 |
1981-82 |
3195 |
7470 |
729 |
2022 |
82 |
282 |
4006 |
9774 |
1982-83 |
3162 |
8140 |
1088 |
2948 |
112 |
419 |
4362 |
11507 |
1983-84 |
3738 |
9112 |
1694 |
4562 |
126 |
647 |
5558 |
14321 |
1984-85 |
4270 |
10284 |
2710 |
7061 |
143 |
608 |
7123 |
17953 |
1985-86 |
5285 |
11772 |
3187 |
9873 |
122 |
720 |
8594 |
22365 |
1986-87 |
4127 |
11518 |
4014 |
13431 |
161 |
871 |
8302 |
25820 |
1987-88 |
4823 |
11583 |
4441 |
16802 |
327 |
1228 |
9591 |
29613 |
1988-89 |
6150 |
11942 |
6093 |
21359 |
376 |
1653 |
12619 |
34954 |
1989-90 |
8478 |
14515 |
7860 |
27559 |
537 |
2255 |
16875 |
44329 |
1990-91 |
9455 |
17535 |
8247 |
33387 |
347 |
2595 |
18049 |
53517 |
1991-92 |
10551 |
20255 |
6687 |
35744 |
- |
2596 |
17238 |
58595 |
1992-93 |
10151 |
21694 |
7414 |
38788 |
170 |
466 |
17735 |
60948 |
1993-94 |
12229 |
23653 |
11642 |
43383 |
206 |
660 |
24077 |
67696 |
1994-95 |
15791 |
28066 |
18526 |
54244 |
350 |
1027 |
34667 |
83337 |
1995-96 |
15920 |
30248 |
16828 |
62452 |
- |
1028 |
32748 |
93728 |
1996-97 P |
16428 |
31823 |
16680 |
72839 |
504 |
1472 |
33612 |
106111 |
1997-98 P |
22616 |
39331 |
23620 |
86714 |
645 |
2417 |
46880 |
128462 |
1998-99 P |
27012 |
46480 |
26941 |
105475 |
878 |
3204 |
54831 |
155159 |
|
|
||||||||
P : Provisional Source: Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy, Reserve Bank of India. Note: Data on Public Provident Fund up to 1992-93 relate to State Bank of India transactions only and from 1993-94 onwards they relate to Post Officetransactions only. |
||||||||
The net collections in small saving schemes and Public Provident Fund in post offices and banks were shared with the States in the form of long term loans prior to April 1999. With the creation of National Small Saving Funds (NSSF), the net proceeds have been shared through investment in special State Government securities. The loans/ investment to the States/UTs against net small savings collections during the last eleven years are indicated in Table 4.
It can be observed from Table 4 that persentage share under Kissan Vikas Patra constituted the highest at 29.6 per cent and 33.2 per cent of the gross and net mobilisation, respectively during 1999-2000. While, the gross collection by Post Office Savings Accounts constituted 14.7 per cent of the total for the financial year 1999-2000, it constitutes only 0.4 per cent of the net collection on account of high withdrawal during the year. Apart from that, Post Office Recurring Deposit, Public Provident Fund, NSC VIII constituted 11.1 per cent, 11.0 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively of the gross mobilisation and 7.8 per cent, 16.6 per cent and 6.4 per cent of the net mobilisation during 1999-2000.
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|
|
(Rs. crore) |
|
|
|
||||||||||||
Sr. |
Name of State |
1990-91 |
1991-92 |
1992-93 |
1993-94 |
1994-95 |
1995-96 |
1996-97 |
1997-98 |
1998-99 |
1999- |
2000-01 |
No. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2000 |
(Prov.) |
|
|
||||||||||||
1 |
Andhra Pradesh |
433.12 |
303.09 |
172.01 |
337.93 |
591.30 |
621.38 |
212.11 |
435.87 |
986.60 |
1141.07 |
1787.14 |
2 |
Arunachal Pradesh |
4.92 |
1.15 |
1.45 |
2.04 |
5.35 |
0.56 |
2.75 |
6.67 |
12.64 |
12.92 |
11.06 |
3 |
Assam |
152.78 |
107.07 |
94.89 |
98.01 |
387.98 |
183.86 |
321.45 |
210.77 |
131.97 |
300.27 |
527.58 |
4 |
Bihar |
504.33 |
257.52 |
148.71 |
168.99 |
245.10 |
428.49 |
510.06 |
841.74 |
1432.37 |
1463.93 |
1604.93 |
5 |
Chhatisgarh |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
116.59 |
6 |
Goa |
40.10 |
20.84 |
15.21 |
8.20 |
23.00 |
21.83 |
27.74 |
36.33 |
78.56 |
82.95 |
99.21 |
7 |
Gujarat |
793.78 |
619.06 |
392.76 |
456.06 |
626.27 |
1004.87 |
911.48 |
1418.14 |
2325.09 |
2594.93 |
3428.09 |
8 |
Haryana |
182.10 |
156.63 |
117.65 |
141.72 |
237.67 |
287.13 |
256.45 |
484.03 |
714.62 |
741.69 |
795.87 |
9 |
Himachal Pradesh |
99.98 |
70.01 |
76.80 |
75.61 |
266.04 |
134.20 |
276.09 |
648.88 |
279.29 |
68.88 |
128.90 |
10 |
Jammu & Kashmir |
64.72 |
39.27 |
42.49 |
59.06 |
93.21 |
63.34 |
181.91 |
154.16 |
207.86 |
194.65 |
317.46 |
11 |
Jharkhand |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
154.26 |
12 |
Karnataka |
252.74 |
231.39 |
254.01 |
229.54 |
747.07 |
434.43 |
479.30 |
491.88 |
799.74 |
1113.85 |
1179.54 |
13 |
Kerala |
152.68 |
135.64 |
112.29 |
167.26 |
393.23 |
338.41 |
180.25 |
182.65 |
392.77 |
571.37 |
440.15 |
14 |
Madhya Pradesh |
232.96 |
179.29 |
112.98 |
145.79 |
267.55 |
295.18 |
363.37 |
562.70 |
886.81 |
993.55 |
992.19 |
15 |
Maharashtra |
965.44 |
1099.68 |
678.05 |
513.37 |
766.73 |
990.11 |
1518.00 |
2521.69 |
3694.10 |
4119.51 |
4659.53 |
16 |
Manipur |
6.63 |
2.40 |
2.66 |
3.65 |
4.95 |
1.44 |
9.48 |
12.60 |
13.79 |
18.86 |
22.83 |
17 |
Meghalaya |
13.33 |
7.13 |
4.73 |
10.04 |
11.34 |
2.28 |
2.94 |
15.16 |
15.54 |
12.93 |
24.02 |
18 |
Mizoram |
4.72 |
2.33 |
3.37 |
2.67 |
3.84 |
1.54 |
1.45 |
3.27 |
5.18 |
7.36 |
13.55 |
19 |
Nagaland |
5.73 |
16.13 |
0.90 |
0.59 |
1.78 |
0.45 |
4.78 |
4.68 |
8.15 |
10.56 |
5.56 |
20 |
Orissa |
185.25 |
87.54 |
110.11 |
114.17 |
211.51 |
209.91 |
111.92 |
263.53 |
378.31 |
384.47 |
602.85 |
21 |
Punjab |
293.60 |
232.41 |
166.07 |
247.40 |
411.06 |
560.00 |
573.01 |
990.26 |
1350.44 |
1711.63 |
2330.40 |
22 |
Rajasthan |
333.31 |
243.47 |
273.84 |
285.09 |
450.31 |
499.96 |
563.82 |
782.64 |
1130.13 |
1705.34 |
2203.82 |
23 |
Sikkim |
4.99 |
1.06 |
0.25 |
0.63 |
2.74 |
0.00 |
4.01 |
4.74 |
7.82 |
8.33 |
7.64 |
24 |
Tamil Nadu |
272.98 |
349.75 |
401.58 |
331.36 |
569.91 |
291.40 |
390.61 |
396.99 |
780.31 |
1013.56 |
1286.97 |
25 |
Tripura |
27.35 |
14.94 |
13.77 |
15.10 |
16.11 |
2.28 |
17.32 |
43.30 |
65.01 |
64.52 |
103.68 |
26 |
Uttar Pradesh |
1175.40 |
753.08 |
607.35 |
797.39 |
1644.17 |
1462.98 |
1329.67 |
1991.47 |
3406.49 |
3255.69 |
3857.05 |
27 |
Uttranchal |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
70.33 |
28 |
West Bengal |
823.54 |
550.58 |
460.18 |
788.33 |
1351.43 |
1541.86 |
1744.79 |
2550.54 |
3922.90 |
4160.40 |
4949.27 |
|
Total |
7026.48 |
5481.46 |
4264.11 |
5000.00 |
9329.65 |
9377.89 |
9994.76 |
15054.69 |
23026.46 |
25753.22 |
31720.47 |
|
|
||||||||||||
|
UTs with legislature |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
Delhi |
|
|
|
|
343.03 |
607.38 |
666.61 |
668.32 |
754.66 |
1164.81 |
1505.08 |
2 |
Pondicherry |
|
|
|
|
2.59 |
4.82 |
9.68 |
9.18 |
6.95 |
18.62 |
39.50 |
|
Total |
|
|
|
|
345.62 |
612.20 |
676.29 |
677.50 |
761.61 |
1183.43 |
1544.58 |
|
GRAND TOTAL |
7026.48 |
5481.46 |
4264.11 |
5000.00 |
9675.27 |
9990.09 |
10671.05 |
15732.19 |
23788.10 |
26936.65 |
33265.05 |
|
|
||||||||||||
Similarly, State-wise details of resource transfer under small savings are given in Table 5. According to the share of the total transfer to all States and Union Territories (with Legislature), the top four positions are occupied by West Bengal (14.88 per cent), Maharashtra (14.01 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (11.59 per cent) and Gujarat (10.31 per cent) during 1999-2000. Apart from this four States, Punjab, Rajasthan, Andhara Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi also mobilsed sizeable amount of resources from the small savings mobilisations during 1999-2000.
In order to observe the pattern of small saving mobilisation during nineties, the year-on-year growth of gross and net mobilisation of aggregate small saving proceeds, and inter-state dispersion of the same are examined from 1991-92 to 2000-2001 (Table 6).
The gross and net mobilisation from small savings registered a rise over the previous year on most of the occasions except for the year 1991-92, 1992-93 and 1995-96. The collection was extremely good for the financial year 1993-94 and 1994-95 as well as for the last four years ending 2000-2001. It may be noted that the share of net to gross mobilisation, which was only 29.5 per cent in 1992-93, has gone up gradually to 53.1 per cent in 1998-99 on account of buoyancy in collection under these schemes. The share, however, came down marginally in the next two years as the growth in interest payable outweighed the collection, notwithstanding the buoyancy in collection registered during 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. Consequently, net collection was 50 per cent of the gross collection, which is being shared between the Centre and the States by the end of 2000-2001.
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