Government to launch revamped Kisan Vikas Patra soon: Official

NEW DELHI: The government will soon launch the revamped Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) besides some new saving instrument programmes for the girl child as well for the physically challenged person, a senior finance ministry official said today.

"We are going to launch the revamped Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) soon again in the form of saving instrument," Rajat Bhargava, Joint Secretary (Budget) in the ministry finance said at an event here.

"Similarly, the government of India is also going to launch some new saving instrument programmes for girl child as well as for the physically challenged person who has not been covered so far (under the programme)," Bhargava added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in the Budget speech, had said he will re-introduce the KVP, which was a very popular instrument among small savers.

"I plan to reintroduce the instrument to encourage people, who may have banked and unbanked savings to invest in this instrument," Jaitley had said.

The KVP was discontinued by the UPA government in 2011 following the Shyamala Gopinath Committee report. It had suggested that KVPs may be discontinued as they are prone to misuse.

KVP was a popular saving scheme that doubled the money invested in eight years and seven months. The government sold these saving bonds through Post Offices in the country.

The new government has identified financial inclusion and access to formal financial channels as a priority area and the reintroduction of KVP is seen as furthering this objective.