UNCLAIMED AMOUNT UNDER VARIOUS POSTAL SAVINGS SCHEMES

UNCLAIMED AMOUNT UNDER VARIOUS POSTAL SAVINGS SCHEMES

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.179
TO BE ANSWERED ON 24TH APRIL, 2015

UNCLAIMED AMOUNT UNDER VARIOUS POSTAL SAVINGS SCHEMES

179. SHRI D. RAJA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:
(a) whether thousands of crores of rupees are held up in post offices as unclaimed amount in the post office savings, Public Provident Fund accounts etc.;
(b) if so, the details under various schemes and the main reasons therefor;
(c) whether the main reason therefor is name of nominee not given at the time of opening the account and hassles of completing other court procedures for claiming the amount by the dependents of the deceased account holders; and
(d) if so, the measures proposed to be taken to make the procedure to claim the amount by genuine dependents hassle-free?

ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) Yes Sir.
(b) Scheme-wise figures are given in Annexure. Main reason for unclaimed amount is non withdrawal of money by depositors after maturity of their investment in Small Savings Schemes, discontinued long back.
(c) No Sir.
(d) Does not arise in view of (c) above.

Scheme – wise details of unclaimed amount in Post Office Savings Bank

S. No.	Scheme	Amount in Rs. crores
1	Mahila Samriddhi Yojna	3.10
2	Fixed Deposit	24.20
3	15 year Cumulative Time Deposit	12.54
4	Indira Vikas Patra	894.59
5	National Development Bonds	0.18
6	National Defence Certificate	0.22
7	10 years National Defence Deposit Certificate	0.54
8	10 years National Plan Savings Certificate	0.31
9	5 years National Savings Certificate	60.02
10	National Savings Certificate (III)	1.13
11	National Savings Certificate (IV)	3.78
	Total	1000.61

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Government to launch revamped Kisan Vikas Patra soon: Official

Government to launch revamped Kisan Vikas Patra soon: Official

The government will soon launch the revamped Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) besides some new saving instrument programmes for the girl child as well for the physically challenged person, a senior finance ministry official said today.

“We are going to launch the revamped Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) soon again in the form of saving instrument,” Rajat Bhargava, Joint Secretary (Budget) in the ministry finance said at an event here.

“Similarly, the government of India is also going to launch some new saving instrument programmes for girl child as well as for the physically challenged person who has not been covered so far (under the programme),” Bhargava added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in the Budget speech, had said he will re-introduce the KVP, which was a very popular instrument among small savers.

“I plan to reintroduce the instrument to encourage people, who may have banked and unbanked savings to invest in this instrument,” Jaitley had said.

The KVP was discontinued by the UPA government in 2011 following the Shyamala Gopinath Committee report. It had suggested that KVPs may be discontinued as they are prone to misuse.

KVP was a popular saving scheme that doubled the money invested in eight years and seven months. The government sold these saving bonds through Post Offices in the country.

The new government has identified financial inclusion and access to formal financial channels as a priority area and the reintroduction of KVP is seen as furthering this objective.

Source : The Economic Times

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