PPF, Sukanya Samriddhi, SCSS: Interest rates for small savings scheme unchanged for Q1 FY25

The Centre on Friday said it would keep the interest rates on small savings schemes unchanged for the April-June quarter of the new fiscal. The Finance Ministry on a regular basis reviews the interest rates of small savings schemes on a quarterly basis. This is for the first time in seven quarters that rates on these instruments have not been tweaked. 

"The rates of interest on various Small Savings Schemes for the first quarter of FY 2024-25 starting from 1st April, 2024 and ending on 30th June, 2024 shall remain unchanged from those notified for the fourth quarter (1st January, 2024 to 31st March, 2024) of FY 2023-24. This has the approval of the competent authority," a government notification said.

After the Covid period, the finance ministry raised small savings interest rates from the October-December quarter of 2022 after keeping the rates at the same level for nine consecutive quarters.

The PPF rates were kept unchanged for more than 3 years. It was last tweaked in April-June 2020, when it was slashed to 7.1 per cent from 7.9 per cent. 

The current rates are:

Scheme                         Interest Rate FOR Q1 FY25

Savings deposit              4.0%
One-year time deposit    6.9%
Two-year time deposit    7.0%
Three-year time deposit    7.1%
Five-year time deposit    7.5%
Five-year recurring deposit    6.7%
Senior Citizen Savings Scheme    8.2%
Monthly Income Account    7.4%
National Savings Certificate    7.7%
Public Provident Fund Scheme    7.1%
Kisan Vikas Patra    7.5% (115 months)
Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme    8.2%

In the last revision, the Centre hiked the interest rates of some of the small savings schemes, such as Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme, 3-year Time Deposit, by up to 20 bps for the Q4 FY24.  In a notification, the Union finance ministry said that the interest rates of most schemes were at the same level, with minor tweaks for the Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme and 3-year time deposit.