Govt Retains Interest Rates on Most Small Savings Schemes For Oct-Dec 2023; 5-Year RDs See Hike

The government on Friday kept the interest rates unchanged on small savings schemes, including PPF, Sukanya Samriddhi, Senior Citizens Savings Schemes and post office time deposits, for October-December 2023. Only 5-year recurring deposits have seen a hike in interest rate by 20 basis points to 6.7 per cent, according to a notification by the finance ministry on Friday.

“The rates of interest on various small savings schemes for the third quarter of the financial year 2023-24 starting from October 1, 2023, and ending on December 31, 2023, have been revised,” the finance ministry said in the notification.

Interest rates on small savings schemes are reviewed at the end of every quarter and are decided for the next quarter accordingly. In the last review on June 30, 2023, the government hiked interest rates on several small savings schemes — 1-year & 2-year post office time deposits and 5-year recurring deposits. It was the fourth hike since September 2022, when the government raised interest rates on some small savings schemes for the October-December 2022 quarter, after keeping it unchanged for nine consecutive quarters — from the second quarter of 2020-21 to the second quarter of 2022-23.

The rate review is done on the basis of G-Sec yields of the previous quarter (July-September 2023 in this case).

Latest Interest Rates On Small Savings Schemes:

The interest rates for the current quarter October-December 2023 are as follows:

• Savings Deposit: 4 per cent
• 1-Year Post Office Time Deposits: 6.9 per cent
• 2-Year Post Office Time Deposits: 7.0 per cent
• 3-Year Post Office Time Deposits: 7 per cent
• 5-Year Post Office Time Deposits: 7.5 per cent
• 5-Year Recurring Deposits: 6.7 per cent (6.5 per cent earlier)
• National Saving Certificates (NSC): 7.7 per cent
• Kisan Vikas Patra: 7.5 per cent (will mature in 115 months)
• Public Provident Fund: 7.1 per cent
• Sukanya Samriddhi Account: 8.0 per cent
• Senior Citizens Savings Scheme: 8.2 per cent
• Monthly Income Account: 7.4 per cent.

Small savings schemes have three categories — savings deposits, social security schemes and monthly income plan.

Saving deposits include 1-3-year time deposits and 5-year recurring deposits. These also include saving certificates such as National Saving Certificates (NSC) and Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP). Social security schemes include Public Provident Fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi Account and Senior Citizens Savings Scheme. The monthly income plan includes the Monthly Income Account.