The number of new savings accounts, time deposits and various other small savings schemes in post offices dropped to a three-year low in FY2020-21, the government said in response to a question in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Provisional data for FY2021-22 till November also shows a continuation in the slowdown.

In total, 4.65 crore small savings accounts were opened in FY2018-19. This dropped to 4.12 crore in FY2019-20 and further to 4.11 crore in FY2020-21. 

Data for FY2021-22 which only includes small savings accounts opened with the post office (and thus excludes banks) shows only 2.33 crore accounts have been opened so far this year. 

The steepest fall over the past three years has been in post office savings account openings. These dropped from 1.18 crore in FY 2018-19 to 72.1 lakh in FY2020-21. Public provident fund (PPF) saw a rise in FY 2019-20 and a drop in FY 2020-21. PPF account openings rose from 11.5 lakh to 27.2 lakh in FY 2019-20 before dropping to 19.6 lakh in FY 2020-21. In FY 2021-22, PPF account openings stood at just 3 lakh.