Reason to rejoice! Small Savings schemes interest rates hiked

New Delhi, September 20: Extending a helping hand to the common man, the central government has been working considerably well. With giving a major sigh of relief with last GST meeting benefits, the latest in the row is that the government has hiked the interest rate on small savings schemes including public provident fund or PPF, which will not fetch 8% interest rate for the October to December quarter, from 7.6% currently.

Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified on a quarterly basis. Asserting the new development, the Finance Department stated that The rates of interest on various small savings schemes for the third quarter of the financial year 2018-19, starting October 1 and ending on December 31, 2018, has been revised.

 

· Among other small savings schemes, Sukanya Samriddhi Account scheme will now fetch 8.5% interest rate as compared to 8.1% earlier. The interest rates on small savings schemes, which are benchmarked to yields on government bonds, are revised on a quarterly basis.

· The interest rate on Kisan Vikas Patra has been hiked to 7.7% from 7.3%. This means that KVP will now mature or double in 118 months as compared to 112 months earlier.

· The 5-year National Savings Certificate or NSC will now fetch 8%, the same rate as that of PPF, from 7.6% currently.

· The interest rate on popular 5-year Senior Citizen Savings Scheme has been hiked to 8.7% from 8.3%.

· Similarly, the interest rate on post office Monthly Income Scheme or MIS has been hiked to 7.7% from 7.3%.

· The five-year post office recurring deposit scheme will fetch 7.3%, from 6.9% earlier.

· The post office savings deposit interest rate has been kept unchanged at 4%.

· The RBI had raised interest rate in August for the second straight meeting, but retained its “neutral” stance as it aimed to contain inflation while not choking growth.