NE demands rise in interest on small savings

Agartala, Jul 23: Finance Ministers of Northeastern states, led by West Bengal Finance Minister Dr Asim Dasgupta, urged the Centre to increase the interest rate of different small savings to boost the rural economy of the region.

Tripura Finance Minister Badal Choudhury had informed that the finance ministers of the region called on Union Finance Minister P.

Chidambaram yesterday and pledged for charging low rate of interest on loan sought under small savings schemes by the state governments and to increase the interest rate for the public.

Mr Choudhury said that the people had been losing interest in investing money in small saving schemes following a cut-down in the interest rate and it hampered the socio-economic development of downtrodden people of the region.

''Central Government should come forward to increase the interest of the small savings to ensure economic development of the weaker sections of the people,'' the ministers demanded.

Presently, the interest rate against loans taken from small savings is 9.5 per cent while the interest given to investors is only 7 to 7.5 per cent, Mr Choudhury maintained.

UNI