Govt relaxes norms for various small savings schemes including PPF

The government has relaxed the norms for various small savings schemes, including the Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Senior Citizen's Savings Scheme.

For the Senior Citizen's Savings Scheme, the new norms provide three months to open an account against one month's time at present.

As per the gazette notification dated November 9, an individual can open an account under the Senior Citizen's Savings Scheme within three months from the date of receipt of the retirement benefits and proof of the date of disbursal of such retirement benefits.

The deposit in such an account will earn interest at the rate applicable to the scheme on the date of maturity or the date of extended maturity, the notification said.

In the case of the Public Provident Fund, the notification has made some changes with regard to the premature closure of accounts.

This scheme may be called the Public Provident Fund (Amendment) Scheme, 2023, the notification said.

According to the notification, some changes have been made for premature withdrawal under the National Savings Time Deposit scheme.

If a deposit in a five-year account is withdrawn prematurely after four years from the date of opening of the account, interest would be payable at the rate applicable to Post Office Savings Account, it said.

As per the existing norms, if a five-year Time Deposit account is closed after four years from the date of deposit, a rate admissible for a three-year Time Deposit account would be applicable for the calculation of interest.

Small savings schemes are investment avenues managed by the Department of Economic Affairs under the finance ministry.

Currently, the government offers nine types of small saving schemes, including Recurring Deposit (RD), Public Provident Fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY), Mahila Samman Saving Certificate, Kisan Vikas Patra, National Savings Certificate (NSC) and Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS).