NEW DELHI: Much to the disappointment of small investors, the government has kept interest rate on small savings schemes such as Public Provident Fund (PPF) unchanged for the September quarter.
“The rates of interest on various small savings schemes for the second quarter of the financial year 2018-19 starting July 1, 2018, and ending on September 30, 2018, shall remain unchanged from those notified for the first quarter of financial year 2018-19,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently raised its repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 per cent, many banks revised their deposit rates higher and experts felt that this may translate into higher deposit rate on small savings schemes, including PPF, National Savings Scheme, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSC), Kishan Vikas Patra and Sukanya Samriddhi Account.
Interest rate on PPF accounts and NSC stands at 7.6 per cent per annum for the quarter ending September, that on Kishan Vikas Patra stands at 7.3 per cent, Sukanya Samriddhi Account at 8.1 per cent and SCSC at 8.3 per cent.