Strange and unscrupulous: Adhir Chowdhury on Centre lowering interest rates on small savings schemes

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday slammed the "strange and unscrupulous" method of the central government to lower the rates of interest on various small savings schemes.

"I find it strange and unscrupulous that in the midst of unrelenting COVID-19 aggression, government discovers the opportune occasion to slash the interest rate of small savings, how could the government be so impervious," Chowdhury tweeted.

Later, he added, "Maldivian government had conducted virtual Parliament, but our @PMOIndia did not find an opportunity to exchange views with opposition party leaders! We are all concerned with the threat of #CoronaOutbreak, the fight against corona is not individual but national, more precisely -- Global."

Facing economic challenges due to threat posed by coronavirus, the government on Tuesday lowered the rates of interest on various small savings schemes including Public Provident Fund, Sukanya Samriddhi and Kisan Vikas Patra for the first quarter of the financial year 2020-21 starting from April 1.

However, the interest on savings deposit stays at 4 per cent.

According to an office memorandum of the Ministry of Finance, the rate of interest for Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme it has been reduced from 8.4 to 7.6 per cent.

The other schemes (with annual compounding frequency) for which interest has been reduced include Public Provident Fund (reduced from 7.9 to 7.1 per cent) and for National Savings Certificate (7.9 to 6.8 per cent).

For Kisan Kisan Vikas Patra it has been reduced from 7.6 per cent to 6.9 per cent. The KVP will mature in 124 months instead of 113 months earlier.