The net sales of national savings certificates increased by 148 per cent or Tk 6,964.21 crore year-on-year in July-September of the current fiscal year 2020-2021 amid a drastic fall in deposit rates in banks and a dismal investment situation in the country.

As per the National Savings Directorate data, the net sales of NSCs increased to Tk 11,662.31 crore in the first three months of the current fiscal year against Tk 4,698.1 crore in the same period of the previous year.

In July-September of FY21, the gross sales of NSCs stood at Tk 27,945.53 crore against principle payment of Tk 16,283.22 crore.

The government during the first quarter paid the NSC-holders Tk 7,704.74 crore in interest.

A senior banker said that a sharp increase in investment even after tightening the taxation policy indicated that there was no other safe investment option for people.

After the implementation of the 9-per cent lending rate cap in April this year for banks, the deposit rate in almost all the banks came below 6 per cent while several banks were offering as low as 2 per cent against deposits.

On the other hand, yield against investments in the savings certificates still remains as high as 12 per cent, making it lucrative to the savers even after the payments of taxes at the rate of 10 per cent on the returns.

With the investment climate still remaining cloudy as the coronavirus situation is yet to be brought under control, different entities might have preferred to park their funds in safe and high yield instruments rather than keeping those in banks.

In September, the net sales of NSCs stood at Tk 4,207.27 crore as the gross sales were Tk 10,387.62 crore against Tk 6,180.35 crore in principal payments.

NSC-holders in September received Tk 3,004.23 crore in interest.

The sales of NSCs grew from the very beginning of FY21 after witnessing a dismal FY20.

In FY20, the net sales of NSCs plunged to Tk 14,428 crore from Tk 49,939 crore in the previous year.

In the budget for FY21, the revenue collection target has been set at Tk 3,78,000 crore, leaving deficit of Tk 1,90,000 crore.

For deficit financing, the government has planned to collect Tk 1,09,983 crore from the domestic sources including NSC sales worth Tk 33,000 crore.