The government trimmed interest rates on small savings schemes such as National Savings Certificate and Public Provident Fund by 20 basis points but spared senior citizens. The rate on the 5-year senior citizen savings scheme was retained at 8.3% for the three-month period starting from January 1, 2018 to April 31. Small savings rates are revised on a quarterly basis. The government had kept rates unchanged in the October-December quarter.
The finance ministry has also retained the savings deposit rate at 4%.
The popular PPF scheme will now fetch a rate of 7.6%, marginally lower than the rate of 7.8% in the October to December quarter. The five-year national savings certificate plan will fetch a rate of 7.6%. while the rate on Kisan Vikas Patra has been reduced to 7.3% from 7.5%. The rate on the Sukanya Samriddhi account scheme has been lowered to 8.1% from 8.3% while the 5-year recurring deposit will now have a rate of 6.9%, lower than the 7.1% in the previous quarter.
Term deposits of 1 to 5 years will fetch a lower interest rate of 6.6-7.4%, and will be paid quarterly. The rate on the five-year monthly income account has been reduced to 7.3% from 7.5%. The interest rate on the Employees Provident Fund is 8.65%.
