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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | West Bengal's savings scheme for poor gets RBI nod -Atmadip Ray

West Bengal's savings scheme for poor gets RBI nod -Atmadip Ray

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published Published on Nov 4, 2013   modified Modified on Nov 4, 2013
-The Economic Times


KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's plan to start a savings scheme with the aim of protecting the poor from losing their money to deposit schemes that promise high returns will be going ahead with the Reserve Bank of India having cleared the participation of state-run banks in the programme. The state government is to launch the plan on November 6.

State-run West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (WBIDFC), which will run the savings programme, has tied up with United Bank of India to start with. WBIDFC had originally said that State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Uco Bank would also be partners. Allahabad Bank's move at the time to seek RBI's clarification on the rules had led to uncertainty over the plan. State Bank of India and Uco Bank had said that they weren't yet ready to take part in the plan. WBIDFC subsequently issued fresh advertisements without the names of the three banks as it didn't have formal arrangements with any of them.

The collapse of the Saradha Group in April led to about 2 million depositors losing their savings, bringing into focus the vast number of deposit schemes that thrive on luring customers with outlandish returns along the lines of classic pyramid schemes. Under the state government programme, WBIDFC will engage 30,000 agents to mobilise deposits. They will open no-frills accounts at partner banks with minimum customer identification formalities. At the same time, they will submit a request to the banks seeking to transfer the amounts to WBIDFC.

"WBIDFC did not specify the modalities in its application, but as we have gathered from the newspapers, this kind of transaction seems perfectly within rules," said a senior RBI official, who didn't want to be identified. It also fits with the RBI's ambition to widen financial inclusion.

The corporation had received RBI clearance for raising deposits in the first week of October, but the process came under scrutiny after Allahabad Bank sought a clarification. The bank's query arose because non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) are not allowed to use banking channel to raise deposits, Allahabad Bank chairperson Shubhalakshmi Panse said.

"West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation has included our name as one of the bankers for acceptance of deposits under Safe Savings Scheme without our consent," Allahabad Bank had said in a statement on October 30.

The three banks and others may eventually become partners in the programme. "We have been in talks with these banks for quite some time and we expect all of them will join us at some point. Several other banks with headquarters outside Kolkata have also shown interest," said a senior WBIDFC official. WBIDFC has promised to pay Rs 25 per transaction to banks for their service.

SBI chief general manager Sunil Srivastava said the plan to create no-frills savings accounts and transfer the money to WBIDFC's accounts was legitimate. However, SBI has sought a few clarifications from WBIDFC on customer identification and new accounts that may become dormant after the first transaction. "We expect every no-frill account to create banking habit. If these accounts turn dormant, then we have to find a solution to it," Srivastava said, adding that his office will seek clearance from head office in Mumbai after receiving responses to its queries.


The Economic Times, 4 November, 2013, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/west-bengals-savings-scheme-for-poor-gets-rbi-nod/articleshow/25193092.cms


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