The government on June 28, 024 announced that the interest rates have been kept unchanged on all small savings schemes. So schemes such as the Public Provident Fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY), Senior Citizens Savings Schemes (SCSS) and post office time deposits will have the same interest rates for the July to September 2024 FY 2025 quarter.
Interest rates on small savings schemes are reviewed every quarter based on the government bond yields. The finance notification said, “The rates of interest on various small savings schemes for the second quarter of FY 2024-25 starting from July 1, 2024, and ending on September 30, 2024, shall remain unchanged from those notified for the first quarter (April 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024).”
Small Savings Schemes & Last Revisions
The last instance of the government revising the interest rates of small savings schemes was done in December 2023 for the January to March quarter of FY24 on select small savings schemes.
Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme
The interest rate on SYY was hiked by up to 20 bps for the Q4 FY24 in December 2023 to 8.2 years. It comes with a lock-in period of 21 years but you can stop investment after 15 years.
The PPF rates were kept unchanged for more than 3 years. It was last tweaked in April-June 2020 when it was slashed to 7.1 per cent from 7.9 per cent.
Public Provident Fund
The Public Provident Fund (PPF) interest rate has been kept unchanged at 7.1 per cent since April-June 2020. The lock-in period is 15 years, and the maximum deposit allowed in a year is Rs 1.5 lakh. Under the new tax regime also, the interest earned on PPF investment is not taxable.
Post Office Time Deposit Scheme
The interest rate for three-year time deposits has been increased to 7.10 per cent from 7 per cent, in December 2023. One-year deposits will have an interest rate of 6.9%, two-year deposits will have an interest of 7 per cent, three-year time deposits will accrue interest of 7.1%, and five-year deposits will attract interest of 7.5 per cent.
Senior Citizens Savings Scheme
The Senior Citizen Savings Scheme offers an interest rate of 8.2 per cent (paid quarterly). You can open an account if you are at least 60 years old or 55 years old and have retired under Superannuation, VRS, or Special VRS. The minimum investment is Rs 1,000 and the maximum is Rs 30 lakh.
