Latest Post Office Small Saving Schemes Interest rates Jan – Mar 2021 | Q4 of FY 2020-21

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been cutting the key policy rates to mitigate Covid-19 impact. Also, most of the banks and financial institutions have already been reducing the interest rates on their deposits schemes.

So, as widely anticipated, the central Govt had announced a steep cut in the interest rates on small savings schemes for the first quarter (April to June) of FY 2020-21. Interest rates on various small savings schemes have been cut anywhere between 70 basis points and 140 basis points (100 basis points = 1 per cent).

However, the interest rates on small savings schemes have been kept unchanged by the government from the Second quarter of FY 2020-21, i.e., July-September.

Maintaining the trend, the interest rates on Post office schemes for Quarter-4 (Jan, Feb, Mar 2021) have also been kept UNCHANGED.

The government keeping interest rates on small savings schemes will come as a relief for many fixed income investors.

The National Savings Schemes (NSSs) are one of the very popular saving schemes in India. These are regulated by the Ministry of Finance. They offer complete security of investment combined with attractive returns.

These schemes also act as instruments of financial inclusion especially in the geographically inaccessible areas due to their implementation primarily through the Post Offices, which have reach far and wide.

Some of the very popular schemes which fall under NSS are as below;

• PPF (Public Provident Fund)
• Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme
• Monthly Income Scheme (Monthly Income Account)
• Senior Citizen Savings Scheme
• KVP (Kisan Vikas Patra)
• NSC (National Savings Certificate)
• Time Deposits &
• Recurring Deposits

Latest Post Office Small Saving Schemes Interest rates Jan – Mar 2021

The latest rates of interest applicable on various small savings schemes for the quarter from January to March 2021 effective from 1.01.2021 would be as below;

Latest Interest Rate on Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme, PPF, MIS, NSC | Quarter 4 of FY 2020-21

The latest rates of interest applicable on various small savings schemes for the first quarter from January to March 2021 effective from 1-01-2021 would be as below;

• The latest interest rate on Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme (SSA ) is 7.6%.
• The new rate of Interest on PPF (Public Provident Fund) would be 7.1%.
• The interest rate on Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) has been reduced to 7.4%.
• New interest rate on Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) would be 6.9%.
• The rate of interest on 5 year National Savings Certificate (NSC) is 6.8%.
• New interest rate on post office MIS (Monthly Income Scheme) is 6.6%.
• The rate of interest on a 5 year Post Office RD (Recurring Deposit) would be 5.8%.

Kindly note that interest rates of Small Savings Schemes are now reviewed and reset (if any) on a quarterly basis.

The revised rates (if any) are applicable for all the new investments MADE during the respective period.

For the existing investments under all the schemes (EXCEPT PPF & SUKANYA SAMRIDDHI SCHEME), the contracted interest rate remains unchanged until maturity.

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(Post first published on : 31-December-2020)