Kerala - Kochi   

Treasury deposit interest rate up

Kochi: Three-year fixed deposits in the State treasury will fetch 10 per cent interest from Monday. Deposits by senior citizens will get 10.5 per cent for the same duration.

Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said here on Sunday the rise in the interest rates, from the current nine per cent, was aimed at attracting more public deposits, an activity that had traditionally been carried out by the Kerala Government Treasury. This would be the first time that the State treasury would offer a special rate for senior citizens, he said.

The Minister, addressing a press conference here after a meeting with treasury official from all over the State, said that he foresaw no objection from treasuries regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as taking fixed deposits had hitherto been an activity of the Kerala treasury.

Of late the focus on public deposits and savings bank accounts had not been too sharp. The new rates were expected to draw people to the treasury offices as they were competitive.

The Minister said the government would keep an eye on the interest rates and appropriate changes would be made in keeping with the market trends.

The Minister said the treasury did no longer have captive sources. Previously the government could call for deposits from sources like the cooperative banks. This was banned by the RBI.

A senior official of the treasury said the new interest rates did not overlook the concept of the level playing ground in the banking industry since it was because of the faith in the government that people were coming to make fixed deposits in the treasury.

Mr. Isaac said there was a need to overhaul the laws governing treasury offices and that he wanted the help of the treasury officials to make drastic changes to the laws. Instead of an expert suggesting ways to make treasury operations smoother, it would be better if all the employees and officials were involved in the process. Several meetings were planned in the near future for eliciting opinion of the treasury officials.

The Minister said that any infrastructure facility needed for improving the operations of the treasuries would be provided right away.

For example, at the meeting on Sunday, a treasury official said that her office needed a generator and the Minister asked the Treasury Director to call for tenders for the supply of a generator. Similarly, orders were placed for 1,800 computers and 200 batteries.

The Minister said the Citizens’ Charter project for treasury offices would be inaugurated in Alappuzha on Tuesday. This would the first time in the country that social audit and citizens’ charter were being implemented in a regulatory department to improve efficiency.

The people would be told by the department how fast each of the treasury operations could be carried out at each of the 202 treasury offices in the State.

The Minister felt that 50 to 75 per cent of the operations could be carried out faster.

The Citizens’ Charter would come into effect on February 15 and the first social audit report would be in May, the Minister added.

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