The Finance Ministry has formally issued the notification for Mahila Samman Savings Certificates, 2023, which are now accessible at 1.59 lakh post offices throughout the country.
The initiative, introduced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2023-24 Budget, aims to increase financial inclusion and empower women, including girls.
The notice was released on March 31, 2023. The two-year duration scheme offers an excellent fixed interest rate of 7.5% compounded quarterly with flexible investment and partial withdrawal choices up to Rs 2 lakh.
"These measures will immensely benefit the post office small savings customers and attract more investment in these schemes through post offices, especially in rural areas and amongst girls, women, farmers, artisans, senior citizens, factory workers, government employees, small traders and other sections of the society. They will get better return on their investment in small savings schemes" the Finance Ministry stated.
The government has increased the rate of interest on various Small Savings Schemes by up to 70 basis points for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2023-24, beginning April 1 (100 basis points equals 1 percentage point). The government typically reviews the interest rates on small savings schemes every quarter.
The Shyamala Gopinath Committee provided the method for calculating interest rates for a modest savings scheme. The committee proposed that government bond yields serve as the benchmark for interest rates on different small savings instruments, and be periodically reset every April 1st. The Senior Citizen Savings Scheme interest rate was raised by 20 basis points, the National Savings Certificate by 70 basis points, Kisan Vikas Patra by 30 basis points, and the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana by 40 basis points.
To combat growing inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised the repo rate since May 2022. Banks are raising interest rates in response to the RBI's rate rise, which is good news for different deposit schemes.
Important News and Blog Tags for Readers
Mahila Samman Savings Certificates, 2023
Increase financial inclusion and empower women
Investment in small savings schemes
National Savings Certificate
Kisan Vikas Patra