The saturation properties of symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter have been computed using the finite range simple effective interaction having Yukawa form-factor. The results of higher order derivatives of the energy per particle and the symmetry energy computed at saturation, namely, Q0, Ksym, Kτ, Qsym, are compared with the corresponding range of values extracted from studies involving theory, experiment and astrophysical observations. The ability of the equations of state computed with this simple effective interaction in predicting the threshold mass for prompt collapse in binary neutron star merger and gravitational redshift have been examined in terms of the compactness of the neutron star and the incompressibility at the central density of the maximum mass star. The correlations existing between neutron star properties with the nuclear matter saturation properties have been analyzed and compared with the predictions of other model calculations.