DESPITE a sharp reduction in rates of returns on the National Savings Scheme, following the 400-basis points cut in the State Bank policy rate over the past 15 months, the scheme attracted an investment of Rs150 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

The amount surpassed the target of Rs56.5 billion. Director General Central Directorate of National Savings Zafar Mehmood Shaikh told newsmen that three instruments — the Special Savings Account, Regular Income Certificate, and Prize Bonds — had helped surpass the target by 85 per cent. He was optimistic that the target of Rs225 billion set for 2012-13 would easily be achieved.

But a visit to any of the savings centres in the city of Karachi is very frustrating. Old and retired men and women in their seventies and eighties and some even beyond (described respectable senior citizens by government) throng these centres in humiliating conditions to deposit their life-savings and encash monthly returns on them.

These centres in this mega city of Karachi are housed in small dimly-lit, narrow rooms which lack proper ventilation, and are always crowded. With sitting arrangements only for a few, some branches represent a chaotic scene. The government claim of facilitating senior citizens in the society is exposed at these centres.

The staff at the savings centres is insufficient to deal with the number of clients. In this period of modern technology, work at most of these branches is still carried out manually. The records are maintained in volumes of registers strewn all around on the counters, and the ledgers and records are verified from them. Whereas the institutions handling the fund-generating business for the government should have been model financial offices like those of commercial bank branches.

“At present when the government is in dire financial straits and exploiting all possible options of resources mobilisation to overcome fiscal deficit and meet budgetary requirements, the ministry of finance should have played a positive role in promoting the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) to motivate the people for Savings. The ministry has fixed targets but ignored conditions to  facilitate the working at these branches and to modernise the institution,,” an officer in one of the savings centres in Karachi complained.

The government’s resource mobilisation from National Savings Scheme is non-inflationary unlike borrowings from the State Bank or even from commercial banks.

Most of the savings centres are doing better business than many bank branches. On a visit to an NSS centre in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, on the University Road opposite Baitul Mukarram, it was learnt that the branch had at least 94,000 account holders and some 400-450 clients visited the centre every day. The incharge of the centre Mr Yousuf Awan disclosed that the monthly turn-over of the branch on an average was Rs180 million per month.

He further said Rs3.5. 4 million was disbursed daily under the Behbood Scheme alone, which is for the retired people above 60 years with maximum profit of 13.5 per cent per annum (the rate has been reduced successively after cut in the policy rate by the State Bank of Pakistan).

On an average Rs0.9-1.1 million is disbursed under the Special Savings Account and Rs1.3-1.5 million under the Regular Income Certificate daily. The situation at other centres was no different, he said. In posh and crowded area branches, the number of clients was far greater and income higher, he added.

Most of the clients at the centre complained of shortage of staff and space which caused delays and kept the centre over crowded without basic facilities. “Though the situation has improved to some extent, still a lot needs to be done. There is need for spacious premises with better environment and requisite furniture for the comfort of the elderly visitors,” they said.

The staff members also complained that the quantum of work has increased manifold over time given growth after increase in the number of clients, instruments and schemes, but the number of staff is fixed. “You cannot imagine the pressure of work that we are taking to keep the records updated,” said one of the staff members at the centre.

The office incharge complains that though the office hours is from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, most of the staff hardly gets a chance to leave the office before 7.00pm. On several occasions the staff have to stay in the office beyond 7.00 pm. “You may visit the office and check if you have any doubt..”

Some of the employees said while they worked under the directive of the State Bank of Pakistan, they were not entitled to facilities permissible to SBP employees.

“There are around 37 NSS branches for such a populous city. There is a need to increase the number of branches and enhance the strength of staff at these centres at the earliest to facilitate account holders,” said an employee at the centre. Due to shortage of staff almost all clients have to wait for three to four hours and even more.

The elderly, including aged ladies, some of whom are sick, have to wait for more than 3-4 hours at the centre for completion of their transaction.

The Gulistan-e-Jauhar branch, which is visited by 350- 400 clients daily and claims to give business of Rs1.8 billion annually to the government, has short and shabby sitting arrangement for clients.

Business volume at the branch,which is comparatively new is growing every month with more clients. More than 70 per cent of the clients are holders of Behbood certificates. On an average Rs450-500 million is disbursed daily amongst the clients under this scheme.

An elderly lady Fakhrunnisa, who appeared to be sick, said, “My husband died three years back and my son works in a sugar mill near Larkana. It is an arduous task for me to come to the centre all the way from my house in Sindh-Baloch Society in Block 12 of Gulistan-e-Jauhar with my daughter-in-law to collect the return on my investment (Behbood). If I manage to reach the centre by 9am, I have to wait for four hours at least for the processing of the papers and receiving the profit. I always return home with the amount afraid of being waylaid by gangsters.

Many of the clients had similar stories to tell about the problems faced at the savings centres. But most of them spoke of the slow pace of work due to shortage of staff and the huge crowd at the branches. They opined that the number of branches should be increased and the staff enhanced at the existing saving centres to ease the problem of investors.