Kisan Vikas Patra to be relaunched on Tuesday

New Delhi: In view of popular demand, the government will on Tuesday relaunch saving instrument Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP), wherein the invested money will get doubled in eight years and four months.

The KVP, which will be relaunched by finance minister Arun Jaitley, will be available in the denominations of 1,000; 5,000; 10,000 and 50,000. There will be no upper ceiling on investment.

“Initially the certificates will be sold through post offices, but the same will soon be made available to the investing public through designated branches of nationalised banks,” the finance ministry said in a statement. Investments in KVP will remain under a lock-in for a period of 2.5 years and thereafter in any block of six months on pre-determined maturity value.

The finance ministry said that the KVP will not only provide safe and secure investment avenues to the small investors but will also help in augmenting the savings rate in the country. “The scheme will also safeguard small investors from fraudulent schemes,” it said, adding that the certificates will double in value after eight years and four months.

The collections under the scheme will be available with the government which will be utilized in financing developmental plans of the centre and states and will also help in enhancing domestic household financial savings in the country, it said. The certificates can be issued in single or joint names and can be transferred from one person to any other person/persons, multiple times.

The certificates can be transferred from one post office to another. The certificate can also be pledged as security to avail loans from the banks. The KVP, a certificate savings scheme, was launched in April 1988 and the money used to be doubled in 5.5 years. However, the scheme was discontinued in November 2011. Jaitley in his budget speech had announced that the KVP would be relaunched.