The central government has relaxed the norms for various small savings schemes, including the Public Provident Fund (PPF), Senior Citizen's Savings Scheme (SCSS), and Time Deposit Scheme. According to news agency PTI, these norms were relaxed as per a gazette notification dated November 9.
Currently, the Centre offers nine types of small saving schemes. The changes in the schemes were notified by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on November 7. The nine small savings schemes are: Public Provident Fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, Senior Citizen's Savings Scheme (SCSS), Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (POMIS), National Savings Certificate (NSC), Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP), Post Office Time Deposit (POTD), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), and Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY). It has to be noted that each scheme comes with its own set of features, tenures, and interest rates.
Senior Citizen's Savings Scheme
For the Senior Citizen's Savings Scheme, the new norms provide three months to open an account against the current one month.
According to the gazette notification, an individual can open an account under the Senior Citizen's Savings Scheme within three months from the date of receipt of the retirement benefits and proof of the date of disbursal of such retirement benefits.
New PPF Rule
The notification has made some changes about the premature closure of PPF accounts. This scheme may be called the Public Provident Fund (Amendment) Scheme, 2023, as per the notification.
National Savings Time Deposit Scheme
If you withdraw your deposit in a five-year account prematurely after four years from the date of opening of the account, interest would be payable at the rate applicable to Post Office Savings Account, the notification noted.
According to the existing norms, if a five-year Time Deposit account is closed after four years from the date of deposit, a rate admissible for a three-year Time Deposit account would be applicable for the calculation of interest.
Here is the interest rates on small savings schemes for the October- December 2023 period:
- PPF - 7.1 Per Cent
- SCSS - 8.2 Per Cent
- Sukanya Yojana - 8.0 Per Cent
- NSC - 7.7 Per Cent
- PO-Monthly Income Scheme - 7.4 Per Cent
- Kisan Vikas Patra - 7.5 Per Cent
- 1-Year Deposit - 6.9 Per Cent
- 2-Year Deposit - 7.0 Per Cent
- 3-Year Deposit - 7.0 Per Cent
- 5-Year Deposit - 7.5 Per Cent
- 5-Year RD - 6.7 Per Cent
Tax Relief
You can also enjoy a tax benefit if you invest in some of these schemes. These are usually deductions under various sections of the Income Tax (I-T) Act. Some common schemes eligible are the SCSS and PPF. You get benefits under Section 80C of the I-T Act, going up to Rs 1.5 Lakh.