Min Patil hits out at FM Sitharaman for slashing interest rates on savings

Mumbai:The BJP government has been making fun of the people of the country every time, told NCP's state president and Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil.

Mr Patil in his statement said that the central government has reduced interest rates on various small savings schemes.Soon after, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman withdrew the cut and took a U-turn, he added.

He further said, “The interest rate on Public Provident Fund (PPF) has been reduced by 0.7 per cent to 6.4 per cent. The interest rate on postal savings accounts has been reduced from 4 per cent to 3.5 per cent per annum.”

He continued, “The interest rate on one-year term deposits has been reduced from 5.5 per cent to 4.4 per cent and the interest rate on senior citizens' savings schemes has been reduced from 7.4 per cent to 6.5 per cent.”

“The interest rate on National Savings Certificates has been reduced from 6.8 per cent to 5.9 per cent and on Kisan Vikaspatras from 6.9 per cent to 6.2 per cent. The interest rates of Sukanya Samrudhi Yojana have also been reduced,” he mentioned.

The new interest rates will be applicable for the first quarter of the new financial year (April 1 to June 30, 2021).However, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that it was done by mistake.

Blindness of pro-crony club BJP govt towards plight of common man exposed by reduction in interest rates on small savings: Kamat

 Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat on Thursday alleged that the blindness of pro-crony club BJP Government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards the plight and sufferings of the common man got completely exposed with the Finance Ministry reducing the rates of interest on various small saving schemes.

In a statement, he said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was compelled to keep on hold the decision after the backlash and anticipating adverse reaction in the poll bound states.

''Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took to twitter this morning to cover up the anti-middle class act of the Government of reducing Interest Rate on various Schemes such as National Saving Certificate, Public Provident Fund which would have hurt millions of middle class depositors.

The statement of the Finance Minister that the Order was issued with oversight is nothing but another attempt to “Fool” the People on the “April Fool Day”. The Government is compelled to keep the order on hold fearing strong reactions from the citizens especially from the poll bound states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam etc,'' Mr Kamat claimed.

Stating that the misdeeds, sins and mismanagement of the BJP Government since coming to power were full and had started overflowing, Mr Kamat said the people should realise what lay ahead for them and ensure that the insensitive BJP Government was defeated to save the economy and democracy of India.

''It is shocking that the Interest Rates were reduced by 0.70 – 1.4 per cent on Small Saving Schemes like PPF, NSS etc. This proves the insensitive approach of the BJP Government which always tried to support Capitalist and Big Business Houses by announcing Tax holidays and waiver of Bank Loans,'' Mr Kamat alleged.

''The irresponsible BJP Government took the disastrous decision of de-monetization without consulting anyone, which resulted in complete collapse of economy in the country. The directionless government is not in a position to revive the economy and boost the marginalized sector,'' he said.(UNI)