New Interest Rates The government has released a new interest rate for the General Provident Fund (GPF). In this, between October 1 and December 31, GPF will get 7.1 percent interest. These rates are effective from 1 October.
The government has released a new interest rate for the General Provident Fund (GPF). In this, between October 1 and December 31, GPF will get 7.1 percent interest. These rates are effective from 1 October. This will cover all types of provident fund accounts.
According to Ashish Vachani, Joint Secretary, Government of India, this decision was taken by The General Provident Fund (Central Services), The Contributory Provident Fund (India), The All India Services Provident Fund, The State Railway Provident Fund, The General Provident Fund (Defence Services), The Indian Ordnance Department Provident Fund, The Indian Ordnance Factories Workmen’s Provident Fund, The Indian Naval Dockyard Workmen’s Provident Fund, The Defense Services Officers Provident Fund and The Armed Forces Personnel Provident Fund.
Earlier, the government had not made any change in the interest rate for the third quarter of 2021-22 on small savings schemes like Public Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificate (NSC). The decision was taken amid the Kovid-19 pandemic and the rise in inflation rate. The annual interest rate on PPF and NSC will remain 7.1 percent and 6.8 percent respectively.
The Finance Ministry said in a notification that the interest rates on various small savings schemes will remain the same for the third quarter of 2021-22 (October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021). According to analysts, the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh could be one of the main reasons behind the decision to keep interest rates unchanged. Uttar Pradesh is the largest contributor to small savings schemes after West Bengal. It is noteworthy that earlier this year, just before the assembly elections in West Bengal, it was decided to reduce the interest rates on small savings schemes. But the very next day, on April 1, the Finance Ministry quashed the decision of a huge cut of up to 1.1 percent.
Due to this, the interest rate in the first quarter of 2021-22 remained in line with the interest rates of the fourth quarter of the previous financial year 2020-21. Interest rates on small savings schemes are notified on a quarterly basis. The interest on one-year fixed deposit will remain at 5.5 percent, while the interest on the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana account, which has been launched for the girl child, will get 7.6 percent as before.
The interest rate on the 5-year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme has been retained at 7.4 per cent. At the same time, under the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, interest is paid on a quarterly basis. Interest on savings deposits will continue to be available at 4 percent. The interest rates on fixed deposits of 1 year to 5 years will be 5.5 to 6.7 percent. Whereas interest on 5 years recurring deposit will be given at 5.8 percent.
