People prefer mutual fund to saving scheme deposit - Minister

Bhubaneswar, Mar 17 (UNI) People were now preferring investment either in share market or in mutual fund to post offices because of high return, Orissa Finance Minister P C Ghadei told the Assembly today.

The saving scheme, he said, would fail not only in Orissa but in the entire country, if the Union Government did not raise the rate of interest on deposits, Mr Ghadei said while replying to a question of Mr Arun Kumar Sahu (BJD).

Mr Ghadei said the investment under the small savings scheme was declining in all the states, adding concerned over the situation many states had already taken up the issue with the Union Government.

The Finance Minister said Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had already taken up the matter with the Centre in this regard.

The issue of the upward revision of the interest rate was also taken up with the Planning Commission and at the National Development Council meeting.

In Orissa a sum of Rs 1256.18 crore was deposited under small savings scheme against the target of Rs 1200 crore in 2004-05.

Similarly a sum of Rs 1322.15 crore was invested in 2005-06 and Rs 912.13 crore in 2006-07 against the target of Rs 1322.15 crore and Rs 1484 crore respectively.

While Ganjam, Cuttack, Khurda, Sundergarh and Koraput performed well, the performance of Nabarangpur, Malkangiri and Rayagada districts was very poor, he said.

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