The finance ministry on Tuesday slashed interest rates on popular small savings schemes such as Senior Citizen Savings, Public Provident Fund (PPF), National Savings Certificate (NSC), Kisan Vikas Parta, Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts and Recurring Deposits in the range of 0.7% to 1.4%. The government has reduced interest rate on Senior Citizen Savings scheme from 8.6% to 7.4%, which will be effective from April 1, 2020, a finance ministry notification said.
These rates will be applicable for the first quarter ending June 30, 2020, it said.
The interest rate of PPF has been reduced from 7.9% in the last quarter of previous financial year to 7.1% from for three months, it said. However, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), which is governed by a board of trustees, had on March 6, declared 8.5% interest rate for financial year 2019-20.
The new interest rate for the Sukanya Samriddhi Account scheme in the first quarter of current financial year will now be 7.6% from 8.4% earlier. Interest rates on NSC have been reduced from 7.9% to 6.8% and Kisan Vikas Patra from 7.6% to 6.9%, the order said.
