New Delhi: West Bengal is at the forefront of all states and union territories in the country in terms of depositing money in popular small savings schemes like National Savings Letter (NSC) and Public Provident Fund (PPF). The people of the state have invested about 90 thousand crore rupees in these small savings schemes, which is 15 percent of the investment across the country. Significantly, the central government had reduced the interest rates on these schemes on March 31, but within 24 hours, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had taken back the decision considering it as a lapse. Opposition political parties linked this U-turn of the government to the Bengal elections, calling it a compulsion of the Modi government.
Uttar Pradesh ranks second after West Bengal in terms of small savings share across the country. At this time, West Bengal is being discussed the most in the assembly elections to be held in the five states / union territories of the country. During these elections only a few days ago, the Central Government announced a cut in the interest rates on small savings schemes, but the next day the government withdrew the decision.
Talking about the whole country, till 2017-18, it has invested 5.96 lakh crore rupees. This data is based on data collected by the National Savings Institute under the Ministry of Finance. This includes only investment data, not redemptions. After Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat rank in this list.
