Dear Comrades,
AIPEU P3 CHQ
In its bid to render the National Small Savings Fund schemes
more attractive to investors by way of returns and halt the tendency to switch
over to bank deposit schemes, the government, on Monday, hiked the rates of
interest on post office small savings plans by up to 50 basis points for the
new fiscal year.
Accordingly, while the interest rate on savings deposits has
been kept unchanged at 4 per cent — the same as in savings bank accounts — the
rates for time deposits of one and two years stand increased by 50 basis points
each to 8.2 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively.
For the more popular ‘monthly income scheme', however, the
increase is slightly lower at 30 basis points and, thus, the interest rate for
the five-year scheme stands pegged at 8.5 per cent while the interest on public
provident fund has been upped from 8.6 per cent to 8.8 per cent.
The new rates are to come into effect from April 1 this year and
remain valid for the whole of 2012-13.According to an official release here,
the interest rate for three-year time deposits has been revised up from 8 per
cent to 8.4 per cent while that for the five-year time deposit has been hiked
to 8.5 per cent from 8.3 per cent. The five-year recurring deposit scheme will
also fetch investors a higher interest of 8.4 per cent as compared to 8 per
cent for the current fiscal.
Just as banks pay a higher return to senior citizens, the rate
for senior citizens savings scheme has also been raised to 9.3 per cent from 9
per cent at present. Besides, the budget for 2012-13 has proposed a reduction
in the age slab for the senior citizen category to 60 from 65.
The interest rate on the
five-year and 10-year maturity National Savings Certificate has also been
revised higher by 20 basis points each to 8.6 per cent and 8.9 per cent,
respectively.
