Modi government may soon take a decision regarding increase in interest rates of small savings schemes. In this regard, the Finance Ministry will review the interest rates for the fourth quarter (January to March) of the financial year 2023-24. The increased rates will be effective from January 1, 2024.
Review every three months: The government reviews the interest rates of small savings schemes every three months. Last time on September 30, interest rates were increased only on two schemes, while there was no change in other categories of schemes. In such a situation, it is expected that this time a decision on increase in remaining schemes can be taken.
There was no change in their interest rates: At present the government is running a total of 12 types of small savings schemes including Post Office Savings, PPF, Sukanya, Senior Citizen, National Certificate. Last time, the interest rates of most of these savings schemes were kept stable. Only the interest rate for the five-year recurring deposit scheme was increased from 6.5 to 6.7 per cent.
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No change in PPF since last three years
Before April 1, 2020, the interest rate on PPF in the country was 7.9%. During the Corona period, the government had revised and reduced the interest rates of many savings schemes in the April-September 2020 quarter. Since then the interest rate of PPF has remained at 7.1 percent. Meanwhile, there were many amendments in interest rates but there was no change in PPF.
It is expected that this time the government may increase the interest rate of PPF after about four years. According to officials, the main reason for not much increase in PPF interest rate is that the return after tax in this scheme is high. In the case of the highest tax bracket, it reaches approximately 10.32 per cent. In view of this, the interest rate is not changed.
Finance Ministry decides
The Finance Ministry announces rates on small post office savings every quarter. Except for small savings schemes, banks decide the rates on FD in their own way based on the repo rate of the Reserve Bank. The purpose of small savings schemes is to encourage common people to save. Also, a source of regular earning is to be provided through Monthly Income Scheme and Senior Citizen Deposit Scheme.
