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Senior Citizen Savings Scheme: Everyone wants to save some part of their hard-earned money and invest it in a place where their money is safe and they get great returns. At the same time, some people start investing thinking that they will have regular income in old age, so that they do not have to face financial problems. In such a situation, various savings schemes run by the post office are becoming quite popular. One of these is the Post Office Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (Post Office SCSS Scheme), which is especially for senior citizens and in this, more than 8 percent annual interest is being given on investment, that is, more than bank FD.
Great interest of 8.2 percent
Small savings schemes are being run in different categories for every age group in the post office, in which the government itself guarantees safe investment. Talking about the Post Office Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, it not only gives more interest than the FDs of all the banks, but it also ensures regular income and by investing in it one can earn up to Rs 20,000 every month. Talking about the interest rate available in POSSC, the government is offering a great interest rate of 8.2 percent to those investing in it from January 1, 2024.
Start investing with just Rs 1000
Post Office Senior Citizen Savings Scheme is also included in the list of most preferred schemes of Post Office in terms of regular income, safe investment and tax exemption. By opening an account in this, you can start investing with a minimum of Rs 1,000. At the same time, the maximum investment limit in this Senior Citizen Savings Scheme has been fixed at Rs 30 lakh. This scheme of Post Office can prove to be very helpful in staying financially prosperous after retirement. In this, a joint account can be opened with any person of 60 years or above or with a spouse.
The maturity period of the scheme is 5 years
In the Post Office Senior Citizen Scheme, the investor has to invest for 5 years. If the account is closed before this period, then according to the rules, the account holder has to pay a penalty. You can easily open your SCSS account by going to any nearest post office. Under this scheme, age limit relaxation has also been given in some cases. For example, the age of the person taking VRS can be more than 55 years and less than 60 years at the time of opening the account, while retired defense employees can invest at the age of more than 50 years and less than 60 years, although some conditions have also been kept for this.
Higher returns than bank FDs
While on one hand 8.2 percent interest is being offered on the Post Office Senior Citizen Saving Scheme, on the other hand, many banks in the country are offering only 7.00 to 7.75 percent interest to senior citizens on FD for the same period i.e. 5 years. If we look at the FD rates of banks, the country's largest bank SBI is giving 7.50 percent annual interest to senior citizens on FD of five years, ICICI Bank is giving 7.50 percent, Punjab National Bank (PNB) is giving 7 percent and HDFC Bank is giving 7.50 percent interest.
Tax benefits up to Rs 1.5 lakh
In this post office scheme, the account holder also gets the benefit of tax exemption. A person investing in SCSS is given an annual tax exemption of up to Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. There is a provision to pay interest every three months in this scheme. In this, interest is paid on the first of every April, July, October and January. If the account holder dies before the maturity period ends, then the account is closed and its entire amount is handed over to the nominee mentioned in the documents.
This way you will earn Rs 20,000 per month
As mentioned above, in this government scheme, the investor can start investing with just Rs 1000 and the maximum investment that can be made is Rs 30 lakh. The deposit amount is fixed in multiples of 1000. Now if we look at the calculation of earning Rs 20,000 regularly from this scheme, then at the rate of 8.2 percent interest, if a person invests about Rs 30 lakh, then he will get an interest of Rs 2.46 lakh annually and if this interest is calculated on a monthly basis, then it comes to about Rs 20,000 per month.