Interest rates for small savings schemes raised

The Centre has hiked interest rate for senior citizen savings scheme by 20 basis points from 7.4 per cent to 7.6 per cent, according to a Finance Ministry notification.

The tenure and interest rates of the Kisan Vikas Patra have also been hiked.

The interest rate for Kisan Vikas Patra is now 7 per cent for the maturity period of 123 months, compared to the earlier rate of 6.9 per cent for the maturity period of 124 months.

Similarly after the revision, a three-year time deposit with post offices will now give 5.8 per cent interest compared to 5.5 per cent earlier.

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However for a two-year time deposit, the rate hike is only 20 basis points from 5.5 per cent to 5.7 per cent.

Interest rates though have not been changed for more popular schemes like Public Provident Fund (where the interest rate is 7.1 per cent), Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (7.6 per cent), savings deposits (4 per cent) and National Savings Certificates (6.8 per cent).

The rates of one-year and five-year time deposits have also been kept unchanged at 5.5 per cent and 6.7 per cent respectively.