Govt hikes interest on small savings scheme; PPF, NSC to now fetch interest rate of 8%

New Delhi: The government has raised interest rates on small savings schemes, including NSC and PPF, by up to 0.4 percent for the October-December quarter, in line with rising deposit rates in the banks.

Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified on a quarterly basis.

The rates of interest on various small savings schemes for the third quarter of financial year 2018-19, starting October 1 and ending on December 31, 2018, has been revised, the Finance Ministry said while notifying the rates.

Interest rate for the five-year term deposit, recurring deposit Senior Citizens Savings Scheme has been raised to 7.8, 7.3 and 8.7 percent, respectively. The interest on the senior citizens' scheme is paid quarterly.

However, interest on savings deposits has been retained at 4 percent, annually.

Public Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificate (NSC) will fetch annual interest rate of 8 percent as compared to existing 7.6 percent, while Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) will yield 7.7 percent and mature in 112 months as against 118 months in the previous quarter.

The girl child savings scheme Sukanya Samriddhi account will earn higher interest rate of 8.5 percent rate, 0.4 percent more then the current rate.

Term deposits of one-three years will fetch 0.3 percent higher interest rate.

While announcing the quarterly setting of interest rates in 2016, the finance ministry had said that rates of small savings schemes would be linked to government bond yields. The move is expected to see banks lowering their deposit rates in line with the small savings rate offered by the government.