Daily Times

The Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) has set a target of Rs 70 billion rupees in Islamic finance year 2023-24. The aim was to introduce new dimensions in the Islamic finance sector.

“Islamic finance has a very important role in the global financial sector at this time, and a large part of the economy of many major countries currently includes Islamic finance,” the senior official of CDNS told APP here on Friday. The senior official said, “Work on Islamic finance is still needed in Pakistan.” He said, “At present, work is being done on institutional reforms in CDNS and new reforms and innovations are being introduced.”

He said, “At this time Automated Teller Machine (ATM) has also been introduced in CDNS which will provide enough facilities to the users.”

The official said, “CDNS will now provide facilities to its customers as a complete bank.”

Replying to another query, he said CDNS had reviewed and set a target of Rs 60 billion in the fiscal year (2022-23) for Islamic investment to introduce the new products in the market. In the current financial year, he maintained that CDNS would hopefully achieve the investment target of Rs 70 billion. Replying to a question, he said, “The CDNS has digitized National Savings Certificates (NSCs) for the convenience of consumers and to modernize the institutional process.” He said the CDNS and Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited (CDCP) signed an agreement to start a pilot project to digitise and dematerialise NSCs last week. The senior official said, “This will increase investment in National Savings and increase consumers’ confidence.” He said, “This agreement between National Savings and CDCP is a part of the automation and digitization of the institution.” Replying to a question, he said, “The Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) attained the target of issuing Rs 1.48 trillion in fresh bonds in the current fiscal year (2022-23).” “The CDNS has set a reviewed saving target of Rs 1.3 trillion for the current financial year (2022-23) which will promote the savings culture in the country.” Replying to a question, he said, “CDNS has digitized National Savings Certificates (NSCs) for the convenience of consumers and to modernize the institutional process.”