From The Hindu Archives, February 18, 1976: World recognition for small savings drive

New Delhi, Feb. 15: India has been specially invited by the United Nations to attend a 10-day workshop in Colombia on the mobilisation of personal savings in developing countries. Mr. R.G. Khedekar, National Savings Commissioner, is representing India at the workshop.

The seminar is intended for the South American countries, but the invitation to India is in recognition of its success in enlisting the voluntary co-operation of the various agencies and building up the image of small savings as people’s movement, according to an official press release.

There are nearly 2,00,000 volunteers in the country engaged in mopping up small savings. They include students at the schools and university level who go to slum areas in cities and to the villages, women social workers, trade union workers and others.

Saving deposits in India aggregated to Rs. 3,575 crores upto Match 1976 and were the highest for any thrift organisation in the country. Last year alone, the deposits amounted to Rs. 327 crores. These savings accounted for nearly 30 per cent of the internal public debt of the country.

India offers the largest variety of savings schemes to the people and some of these like the protected savings scheme for low income groups are unique in the world.