FINANCE

SMALL SAVINGS SCHEMES

The Small Savings Movement in India is of recent origin. It was started during 1945 as a means of mopping up purchasing power to fight the rising spiral of inflation. The Planning Commission later on recognised Small Savings as the most important source of financing Government expenditure on capital schemes included in the Five-Year Plans. The Government of India has been, therefore, trying to intensify small savings as a mass movement aimed at cultivating a national habit of thrift. To-day, of all the target resources of the Second Five-Year Plan like taxation and open market borrowing, small savings can be considered to be an effective mode of mobilising co-operative sacrifices of the people in a democratic and economically the least painful way. " Small Savings" is thus a mighty adventure of building up a happy and prosperous India.

Trend in Small Savings.

Small Savings Collections are closely related to the general price level. The fall in the general level of prices and the cost of living seem to have fairly contributed towards a rise in the collections during the First Five-Year Plan. While the general index of wholesale prices fell from 434 in 1951-52 to 360 in 1955-56, the net collections rose from about Rs. 14 crores in 1951-52 to Rs. 17 crores in 1955-56 in the areas of the re-organised Bombay State. In Ratnagiri district the approximate net collection during.1956-57 was Rs. 9 lakhs. In the next year, i.e., from April 1957 to February 1958, the net collection was Rs. 5,00,000 and the gross collection was Rs. 58,91,000 while the net target was Rs. 20,00,000. This net target was fixed after taking into consideration the net collections secured in the past, the crop conditions as well as the contributory capacity of the rural areas and the industrial development of this district.

The following categories of investments have been classified as small savings investments:-

(1) Post Office Savings Bank Deposits.

(2) Twelve-Year National Plan Savings Certificates issued with effect from 1st June 1957, including past holdings of Twelve-year and Seven-year National Savings Certificates as well as Ten-year National Plan Certificates issued prior to June 1957.

(3) Ten-Year Treasury Savings Deposit Certificates issued with effect from 1st June 1957, including past holdings of Treasury Savings Deposit Certificates issued prior to that date.

(4) Fifteen-Year Annuity Certificates.

(5) Cumulative Time Deposit Scheme.

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