Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana – Calculating Maturity Values @ 9.2% – Interest Rate Applicable for FY 2015-16

This post is written by Shiv Kukreja, who is a Certified Financial Planner and runs a financial planning firm, Ojas Capital in Delhi/NCR. He can be reached at skukreja@investitude.co.in

The Finance Ministry on March 31st announced the applicable interest rates for all the Post Office Small Savings Schemes, including PPF, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) and Senior Citizens Savings Scheme (SCSS). Except for SCSS and SSY, the government has kept all other interest rates unchanged, including 8.7% for its most popular scheme, PPF.

To encourage more and more people to get the Sukanya Samriddhi Account (SSA) opened, the Government has decided to ride against the tide and has increased its interest rate to 9.20% from 9.10% earlier, an increase of 0.10%.

As the interest rate on Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana is subject to a revision every financial year, this rate of 9.2% will remain applicable only for the current financial year, 2015-16 and will be further revised in March 2016 for the next financial year, 2016-17.

But, this move of keeping its interest rate higher makes me feel that the Modi Government will continue to keep its interest rate higher going forward as well. I think, like the current financial year, they will try to keep a differential of approximately 0.50% between PPF and Sukanya Samridhi Yojana.

I had posted an article last month in which maturity values were calculated with 9.1% rate of interest throughout its tenure of 21 years. But, as the interest rate has been updated to 9.2% and as most of the investors are yet to open this account, I thought there is a need to have a new post having maturity values calculated as per the new rate of 9.2%.

So, here you have the tables in which maturity values are given as per your annual contributions as well as monthly contributions:

Yearly Contribution Table

Monthly Contribution Table

As different investors will have have different amounts and different timings of their deposits, it is natural that their maturity values will also be different. So, these maturity values are only indicative based on certain assumptions and here you have those assumptions:

* Rate of Interest has been assumed to remain 9.2% for all these 21 years.

* Yearly contributions have been assumed to be made on April 1 every year i.e. the beginning of the financial year.

* Monthly contributions have been assumed to be made on 1st day of every month.

* Although it is not mandatory, a fixed amount of yearly/monthly contribution has been assumed.

* It is also assumed that no withdrawal is made throughout these 21 years.

As people are looking for more and more information about this scheme, I would like to again highlight the main features of this scheme here:

Who can open this account? – Parents or a legal guardian of a girl child up to the age of 10 years, can open this account in the name of the girl child. So, if your daughter is born on or after December 2, 2003, you can get this account opened for her in a post office or an authorised bank branch.

Which documents are required to open this account? – You need birth certificate of the girl child, along with the identity proof, residence proof and two photographs of the parents/legal guardian, to open an account under this scheme. You can approach any post office or a branch of any of the authorised banks to get this account opened.

9.2% Tax-Free Rate of Interest for FY 2015-16 – As mentioned above, this scheme will carry 9.2% rate of interest for the current financial year and it was 9.1% for the previous financial year. Similarly, interest rate will be revised every year in March and will be applicable for the applicable financial year afterwards.

Scheme Matures in 21 years or on Girl’s Marriage, whichever is earlier – The scheme gets matured on completion of 21 years from the date of opening of the account or as the girl child gets married, whichever is earlier. Please note that the girl attaining the age of 21 years has no relevance to maturity period of this scheme.

Deposit for 14 years only – You need to deposit a minimum of Rs. 1,000 and a maximum of Rs. 1,50,000 only for the first 14 years, after which you are not required to deposit any amount. Your account will keep earning the applicable interest rate for the remaining 7 years or till it gets matured on your daughter’s marriage.

NRI/OCI Investment – It is still not clear whether Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) or Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) are allowed to open an account under this scheme or not. But, as it is not allowed with most of the post office small saving schemes, I think the government will not allow them to invest in this scheme either. I’ll update this post as soon as I get any information regarding the same.

Partial Withdrawal – It is allowed to withdraw 50% of the balance for higher education as the girl child attains the age of 18 years. Except for this period, it is not allowed to withdraw any amount during the whole tenure of this scheme.

Nomination Facility – Nomination facility is not there with this scheme. In an unfortunate event of the death of the girl child, the balance amount will be paid to the parents/ legal guardian of the girl child and the account will be closed immediately.

You can check all the features of this scheme from this post – Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana – Tax-Free Small Savings Scheme for a Girl Child

You can also check the updated list of banks and download the application form to open an account from this post – Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana – Updated list of Authorised Banks to Open an Account, Specimen Application Form & Passbook. If you have any query or something related to all these posts, please share it here.