The government has slashed the interest rate on small savings schemes such as National Savings Certificate (NSC), Sukanya Samriddhi Account, Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) and Public Provident Fund (PPF), by 20 basis points or 0.2 percentage point, for Q4 FY18 (January-March) in comparison to the previous quarter. The move is expected to see banks lowering their deposit rates in line with the small savings rate offered by the government. Since April 2016, interest rates on all small savings schemes have been recalibrated on a quarterly basis.
However, interest rates in the five-year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme have been retained at 8.3 percent. The interest rate on the senior citizens’ scheme is paid quarterly. As per the finance ministry notification, investments in the PPF scheme will now fetch a rate of 7.6%, marginally lower than the rate of 7.8% in the October to December quarter. The five-year NSC will fetch a lower annual rate of 7.6 percent, while KVP investments will yield 7.3 per cent and mature in 11 months.
Besides, the girl child savings scheme Sukanya Samriddhi Account will offer 8.1% from existing 8.3% annually. Term deposits of 1-5 years will fetch a lower interest rate of 6.6-7.4%, to be paid quarterly, while the five-year recurring deposit is pegged at 6.9%. The finance ministry has said that rates of small savings schemes would be linked to government bond yields.
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