look news india
New Delhi. In today’s era, when there is uncertainty in the stock market and there is always market risk in mutual funds, then a common working person or middle class family is looking for such investment schemes where their principal amount is 100% safe and a fixed income keeps coming home every month or quarter. If you also want to prepare a stable and risk-free financial plan for the future along with your spouse, then post office savings schemes can be a safe option for you. Indian Postal Department i.e. Post Office runs such wonderful schemes under the patronage of the Central Government, in which you are given guaranteed returns every month or every quarter on lump sum investment. At present, there is a lot of enthusiasm among investors regarding the Post Office Monthly Income Scheme and Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, because by jointly opening an account, a fixed amount of up to ₹ 28,699 can be received directly into the bank account every three months.
The biggest feature of this scheme of the Indian Post Office is that every penny deposited in it has a Sovereign Guarantee of the Government of India, due to which there is no financial risk like sinking of the bank or falling of the market. If a person opens an account alone, the deposit limit for him is less, but if he chooses the ‘Joint Life’ option with his wife, the maximum investment limit more than doubles. This account can be opened very easily by visiting any head post office or sub-post office of the country. In this, both husband and wife are considered equally entitled to the account and the interest received at fixed intervals is automatically transferred directly to their savings account. The main objective of this scheme is to provide such monthly or quarterly financial support to retired employees, housewives and middle income group people so that their daily household expenses, electricity-water bills, children’s school fees or medicine expenses are met regularly without any hassle.
This question is often asked on social media and financial portals that what is the figure and formula under which an amount of approximately ₹ 28,699 comes into the account every quarter. The financial combination of two main government schemes works behind this. The first scheme is the Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (POMIS), whose current interest rate is 7.4 percent per annum. In this scheme, husband and wife together can deposit a maximum lump sum amount of ₹ 15,00,000 under the joint account. When you invest Rs 15 lakh, the total interest earned in one year at the rate of 7.4 per cent comes to Rs 1,11,000. Divide this into twelve months, then a payment of ₹ 9,250 comes directly into your account every month, which makes a total of ₹ 27,750 in three months i.e. one quarter.
On the other hand, if the family consists of a senior citizen couple aged 60 years or above and they avail the post office Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS), then the interest rate is 8.2 per cent per annum and the payment is made at the end of every quarter. If a couple jointly deposits an amount of around ₹14,00,000 at an interest rate of 8.2 per cent, the total annual interest comes to ₹1,14,800. When this is divided equally among the four quarters of the year, a net amount of ₹28,700 is credited to the bank account every three months. Apart from this, many investors take advantage of compound interest by auto-debiting the monthly interest received from Post Office 5 Year Term Deposit or POMIS into a five year RD, taking the effective return of 3 months to ₹28,699.
The maturity period of this post office savings scheme has been fixed at 5 years. This means that once you have deposited the money together with your wife, any interest rate fluctuations will not have any impact on your returns for the next five years. Even if the Reserve Bank reduces the repo rate in future or banks reduce their fixed deposit rates, the same interest rate will be applicable on your account at which you opened the account. On completion of five years, your entire principal amount i.e. the entire deposited capital is handed back to you without any deduction. If you wish, after 5 years you can also renew this account for further five years.
Any unexpected medical emergency or big expenditure may be required at any time in life, hence the Post Office has also provided the facility of premature withdrawal of money in this scheme. Although the government recommends that it is best to hold the investment for the full 5 years, in case of emergency these rules are followed: You cannot withdraw any money from the account before the completion of one year from the date of opening. If the account is closed between 1 year to 3 years, 2 percent is deducted from your total principal amount and the remaining amount is returned to you. If the account is closed after completion of 3 years and before 5 years, a nominal deduction of only 1 percent of the principal amount is made. In the unfortunate event of untimely death of the account holder, the account can be closed immediately and the entire principal amount is returned to the legal heir or nominee without any deduction.
Any Indian citizen who is above 18 years of age is considered eligible to avail the benefits of this scheme. To open a joint account with your wife, you have to go to your nearest post office and fill the form. Along with this, identity card, residence certificate, PAN card and passport size photo of both the account holders are required. Apart from this, you should have an active savings account of the post office so that the interest coming every month or quarter can be deposited directly into that savings account without any interruption and you can withdraw it anytime through ATM card or check book.