The senior citizens in the city expressed dismay over the revised and low interest rates introduced by the State Bank of India (SBI) on Fixed Deposits that will come into effect from 01 August.

This has also led some persons to move their FDs to Post Offices, instead. People aged between 55 to 85 years mostly, are facing problems aplenty since they claim to be totally dependent on fixed deposits for their livelihood.

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Senior citizens are facing a heat after the SBI slashed interest rates on FDS since most of them depend on pensions which they put into their fixed deposits so they could use it for their livelihood.

Swarup Mukherjee, (64) said “The way the prices of essential commodities in the market are increasing day by day, making it near impossible for senior citizens to buy their daily bread, especially if the fixed deposit interest rates are slashed. In such a scenario, it becomes troublesome to run a family”.

Tapan Mondal (68) said “Today the young generation does not look after their old age parents who are totally dependent on the fixed deposits.” It is absurd that rates for senior citizens, on FDs, for 211 days to one year, has been brought down to 6.75 from 6.90 per cent while interests on FDs for one year to less than two years, have been slashed from 7.50 to 7.30 per cent.”

It was further learnt that it is not just the senior citizens but also middle aged people who are looking forward to renew their FDs soon and have been hit by the renewed interest rates.

A middle aged person pointed out “I wanted to renew my FD in SBI but after the announcement of the revised rates, I will open FDs in other banks which are still offering good interest rates.”

Interestingly, it was observed that while SBI has slashed the rates, the post offices (POs) have become a prime choice for many citizens who pointed out that POs are offering good interest rates on FDs. Many fixed deposit holders have claimed they will withdraw their FDs from SBI and move it to post offices.