Visakhapatnam: Crying foul over the falling interest rates on fixed deposits, non-pensioner senior citizens blame the government and banking sector for discrepancy towards different classes of the people. They claim that the public sector banks (PSBs) have been lending huge funds to wilful defaulters like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya from the life-time savings of middle-class senior citizens who are solely dependent on the interest on FDs for their livelihood.
An 86-year-old N. Lakshmana Rao, who had retired as a private school teacher, recently vacated his leased house in Marikavalasa and joined a non-profit old-age home in Muralinagar. The child-less senior citizen could not afford the rent and health expenses with a meagre monthly interest on his FDs. “The salaries of legislators and government officials are revised regularly but what about the middle-class persons who retire from private and public sectors under contributory pension fund (CPF) scheme. We are deprived of higher interest rates on the savings accrued over years to lead a respectable life,” said a senior TVS Rao.
After retiring in 1993 from a reputed private firm in Ranchi, he met with an accident and most of his funds were exhausted to have an artificial leg. He had kept the rest of his savings in FDs and making both ends meet with the interest amount. He is currently living at the mercy of his son-in-law, who lives in Lawsons Bay Colony.
Till 2010, Mr Rao used to receive Rs 12,500 a month as the bank interest, but later it has come down to Rs 7,800 per month. On the other hand, the inflation has continued to rise up in the past ten years. No commodity is available today at the price of 2010. Some essentials like dals and other groceries have skyrocketed. The government increases the dearness allowance (DA) frequently for public sector employees and pensioners. When consumer price index is the yardstick for enhanced DA payment of government staff, why not such system is adopted for payment of interest on FD to helpless non-pensioners, he asked.
As the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had given freedom to the commercial banks in 1997, the financial institutions can fix their own interest rates on FDs depending on the market conditions. However, banks are not allowed to discriminate in the matter of interest paid on deposits to one customer and another.
