The Internal Resources Division on Wednesday asked the commercial banks to increase the sales of national saving certificates so that the net investment reaches at least Tk 3,500 crore by the end of the current fiscal year against the target of Tk 6,000 crore.
Officials of IRD of the finance ministry gave the directive at a meeting as the government collected only Tk 379.68 crore from the NSCs in the first 10 months of the current FY2011-12.
They said the target of Tk 3,500 crore could be met within next two months if the banks and the authorities concerned take proper steps as the government already increased the rate of interest on the saving instruments.
Officials of Bangladesh Bank and Directorate of National Savings, however, told New Age that it would not be possible to net in around Tk 3,100 crore investment in just two months as the banks, the savings bureau and post offices could barely collect Tk 379.68 crore in 10 months.
They said that the IRD should have taken steps earlier to push up sales of the NSCs.
The IRD additional secretary, Shahidullah Miah, presided over the meeting at IRD conference room in the capital.
A DNS official told New Age that the directorate had recently written a letter to the IRD that the banks were not providing proper cooperation to the clients for selling the NSCs.
Under the circumstances, the IRD called the meeting which was attended by officials of the central bank and four state-owned banks, representatives of National Board of Revenue and DNS director Mahmuda Akter Mina.
The official said sales of NSCs were yet to reach a satisfactory level though the interest rate on the saving instruments was substantially raised.
The government raised the rate of interest on all saving instruments on February 23 with effect from March 1. 
A DNS official said, ‘The banks are reluctant to sell the NSCs to the clients due to the prevailing liquidity crisis in the financial sector. They think that the crisis would be more severe in the banks if the clients invest in the NSCs instead of deposit schemes of the banks.’
A number of clients recently alleged that the banks were not providing cooperation for selling the NSCs, he said.
The banks have been asked to take steps in this regard as they usually play a significant role in the sales of government saving instruments, he said.