If you ever paid a visit to the General Post Office (GPO) in Dhaka's Gulistan area, you may have noticed a queue of people waiting to avail services inside the main hall.

Some people can be seen busy completing procedures to mail their parcel or letters while at another end, you may see men and women with small passbooks in hand.

These passbook holders come to either deposit or withdraw money from their savings accounts with the post office, which provides people with scope to invest in state-sponsored national savings certificates as well as deposit funds in the Post Office Savings Bank.

Tahera Parveen was one of the savers who visited the GPO on Wednesday to park her funds at the post office.

Parveen and her husband, both retired government officials, have invested in three-month profits bearing national savings certificates.

The couple switched to national savings certificates as interest rates offered by banks fell below the inflation rate.

The Consumer Price Index, a measure of change in prices of certain goods and services, was 5.36 per cent in July whereas the weighted average interest rate on deposits was 4.13 per cent in June, the lowest in recent months. 

Parveen decided to switch to the post office and invested in profit bearing savings certificates to draw money regularly.

Although the couple chose to invest in the savings certificates, there are other options for depositing money on offer at the post office that provides higher return than banks.   

Ordinary savings accounts, that offer 7.5 per cent interest, is another option for savers.

Citizens of all classes and professions can open these accounts.

A saver can open ordinary savings accounts at the Post Office Savings Bank by depositing any amount.

"One can open an account even by paying just Tk 500," a senior official of the GPO said.

The interest on savings is added to the principal amount after a year and interest is calculated on the total amount after the next year.

"It is a good option for small savers," said Khandker Shahnur Sabbir, deputy postmaster general and senior postmaster of the GPO.

PROCEDURE FOR OPENING AN ACCOUNT:

To open an account applicants must bring two photos, a copy of their National Identity Card, passport, or Birth Registration Certificate, and TIN certificate.

Along with that, one also has to bring two photos of the nominee.

Nothing can be done manually so the whole process should be done online, according to officials

Once a person opens an account, a cheque book is issued by the post office.

However, one limitation is that the account holders will have to visit their respective post office branch to deposit money as the electronic network is yet to be established.

There is also a limit on the maximum amount of investment. One can save as much as Tk 10 lakh under a single name and Tk 20 lakh jointly.