In a late night development, Ministry of Finance issued the Gazette Notifications for Mahila Samman Savings Certificates, 2023 and has been made available in 1.59 lakh post offices with immediate effect. The scheme was announced in the 2023-24 Budget by the Union Finance Minister to commemorate ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and is a significant step towards financial inclusion and empowerment of the women, including the girls.

The two year tenure scheme offers an attractive and fixed interest of 7.5 per cent interest compounded quarterly with flexible investment and partial withdrawal options with a maximum ceiling of ₹ two lakh. The scheme is valid for a two-year period upto 31st March 2025.

National Savings (Monthly Income Account) Scheme, 2019 has been amended through National Savings (Monthly Income Account) (Amendment) Scheme, 2023 and the maximum investment limit has been raised from ₹ four lakh fifty thousand to ₹ nine lakh for a single account and from ₹ nine lakh to ₹ 15 lakh for a joint account with effect from 1st April 2023.  Likewise, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, 2019 has been amended through Senior Citizens Savings (Amendment) Scheme, 2023 and the maximum investment limit has been raised from ₹ 15 lakh to ₹ 30 lakh with effect from today.

Interest rates on all the small savings schemes, except Savings Deposit and PPF, have also been upwardly revised with effect from 1st April 2023. 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. For further details, please visit www.indiapost.gov.in.

RKJ