Govt Slashes Interest Rates On Senior Citizens’ Saving Scheme, PPF

Picture courtesy Financial Express

New Delhi: The Union Finance ministry has slashed the interest rates of small saving schemes, including public provident fund (PPF) and senior citizen savings scheme (SCSS), from April 1, 2021.

PPF interest rate has been lowered from 7.1 to 6.4 per cent annually. This is the first time since 1974 that PPF interest will be below 7 per cent, reported Hindustan Times.

Interest rate of SCSS, one of the primary sources of income for retired senior citizens, has been revised to 6.5 per cent (quarterly and paid) from the previous rate of 7.4 per cent.

National Savings Certificate (NSC) interest has been reduced from 6.8 to 5.9 per cent.

Savings deposit interest has been brought down to 3.5% from 4%, marking the first time that interest rate on savings deposits has been cut by 0.5 per cent.