Post Office And Other Small Savings Scheme Interest Rates Revised
In its quarterly update, the government has revised interest rates of some post office schemes while leaving rates of popular schemes unchanged. Interest rates on small savings schemes are being revised on a quarterly basis at present.
In a notification from the Finance Ministry, it was informed that the interest rate on 1-year post office time (fixed) deposit has been hiked to 7 percent (with quarterly compounding) for the January-March 2019 quarter from the previous interest rate of 6.9 percent. On the other hand, the interest rate on the 3-year fixed deposit has been lowered to 7 percent from 7.2 percent.
Instrument | Interest rate (%) from 1/10/18 to 31/12/18 | Interest rate (%) from 1/1/19 to 31/3/19 | Compounding frequency |
---|---|---|---|
Savings Deposit | 4.00 | 4.00 | Annually |
1 Year Time Deposit | 6.90 | 7.00 | Quarterly |
2 Year Time Deposit | 7.00 | 7.00 | Quarterly |
3 Year Time Deposit | 7.20 | 7.00 | Quarterly |
5 Year Time Deposit | 7.80 | 7.80 | Quarterly |
5 Year Recurring Deposit | 7.30 | 7.30 | Quarterly |
5 Year Senior Citizen Savings Scheme | 8.70 | 8.70 | Quarterly and paid |
5 Year Monthly Income Account | 7.70 | 7.70 | Monthly and paid |
5 Year NSC | 8.00 | 8.00 | Annually |
PPF | 8.00 | 8.00 | Annually |
KVP | 7.70 | 7.70 | Annually |
SSS | 8.50 | 8.50 | Annually |
Rates of popular savings schemes like Public Provident Fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme (SSS) National Savings Scheme (NSC) and Kisan Vikas Patra (KVS) remained unchanged from the previous quarter. These schemes have benefitted from the two previous interest rate hikes from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
While planning your long-term investments, it is good to consider government-backed small savings schemes as part of your portfolio for their security.