KARACHI:
National Savings – a public institution that shoulders the responsibility of funding governmental projects and developmental programmes – operates on a simple economic model: people deposit their savings and pensions into their chosen certificate schemes and receive regular profit payouts or a lump sum at maturity. National Savings offers around 12 per cent returns, outperforming many of its private and public counterparts, especially in its mainstream schemes such as Defence Savings and Behbood.
But despite being such a formidable fiscal stabiliser for the country, the challenges facing National Savings remain largely unnoticed. The National Savings offices are littered with stockpiles of redundant documents, including receipts, coupons and receiving slips from the 1970s. These records are no longer useful or readable, merely contributing to the administrative clutter and exhausting the staff. Officers-in-charge are not authorised to expunge these records, as the government has devised no official mechanism for the purpose. The institution still relies on paper-based procedures and outmoded methods. The computers and equipment provided by the government long ago have now become obsolete. No recruitment of Junior National Savings officer, Assistant National Savings officer or National Savings officer for several years has added to the predicament of the country’s sole public investment engine. Furthermore, it does not possess any property of its own, operating entirely out of rented branches and head offices.
These downturns demonstrate a lack of attention and ignorance on the part of higher authorities. National Savings is in dire need of advertising and attractive marketing campaigns. The organisation, which encourages the public to save and invest for the greater national good in an era of extravagance, should be promoted effectively. Branches should be revamped in line with the demands of the modern era. Repetitive administrative methods should be replaced by paperless and digitalised mechanisms. The Ministry of Finance should also create fiscal space to recruit necessary officers for the organisation, in order to reduce the undue burden on existing staff. A holistic plan through a multifaceted approach is needed to overhaul the dysfunctional system of National Savings.
Mudasir Ahmed
Karachi
