10.2 lakh accounts opened under Mahila Samman scheme since launch

The newly-launched Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, and the enhanced senior citizens savings scheme, both of which were announced in the Union Budget 2023, have seen strong response from the public.

The Mahila Samman Savings Certificate (MSSC), operational since April 1, 2023, has so far seen deposits of Rs 6,000 crore and 10.2 lakh new accounts, a senior government official told DH.

These are only post office accounts. Banks will also now begin to offer MSSC to clients.

The Senior Citizens Savings Scheme (SCSS), like all other National Small Savings Scheme is offered by banks and post offices. The official said that for April-May 2023, the expanded SCSS saw new deposits of Rs 23,000 crore, nearly four times that of the Rs 6,000 crore garnered in the same period last year.

"We have seen quite a strong response for both of these schemes, and are confident that we will meet our targets for the NSSF this year," the official said.

A good inflow of investment into the NSSF bodes well for the Centre as it is the second largest source of financing the fiscal deficit, the shortfall between the sovereign’s revenue and expenditure. The largest source of financing the deficit is the amount the centre borrows from the debt markets.

For the NSSF, the central government expects net receipts – or the amount out of the total NSSF corpus that will be used to finance the fiscal deficit – of Rs 4.71 trillion, as per Budget documents.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech increased the maximum deposit limit for SCSS to Rs 30 lakh from Rs 15 lakh and for Monthly Income Account Scheme to Rs 9 lakh from Rs 4.5 lakh for single accounts and to Rs 15 lakh from Rs 9 lakh for joint accounts.

She had also announced a one-time new small savings scheme, Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, that would be made available for a two-year period up to March 2025. “This will offer deposit facility upto Rs 2 lakh in the name of women or girls for a tenor of 2 years at fixed interest rate of 7.5 per cent with partial withdrawal option.”

Later, the Finance Ministry had increased the interest rate for SCCS to 8.2% from 8% for the April-June 2023 quarter.