Centre Withdraws order reducing the rate of interest on Small Savings Schemes

New Delhi, 1/4: The Centre withdrew the order reducing the rate of interest on Small Savings Schemes on Thursday. The announcement was made by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The rate of interest on these will now remain unchanged as the last quarter of 2020-2021, Sitharaman tweeted on Thursday.

“Interest rates of small savings schemes of government of India shall continue to be at the rates which existed in the last quarter of 2020-2021, ie, rates that prevailed as of March 2021. Orders issued by oversight shall be withdrawn,” tweeted the Finance Minister.

According to an office memorandum of the Ministry of Finance issued on Wednesday, the rate of interest for savings deposits was reduced from 4 per cent to 3.5 per cent annually. The rate of interest for the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme was also reduced from 7.6 to 6.9 per cent.

The other schemes (with annual compounding frequency) for which interest was reduced include Public Provident Fund (reduced from 7.1 to 6.4 per cent) and for National Savings Certificate (6.8 to 5.9 per cent).