Some of the post office saving schemes also qualifies for income tax benefits.Department of Posts or India Post, which runs postal services in the country, also offers nine types of small saving schemes.
These include the savings account, the five-year recurring deposit (RD), the time deposit or fixed deposit (FD), the Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) account, the Senior Citizens Savings Scheme (SCSS), the 15-year Public Provident Fund (PPF) and the National Savings Certificates (NSC), according to India Post's official website - indiapost.gov.in.
Interest rates on these post office saving schemes move in line with government's interest rates on small savings schemes.Minimum amount required to open accountsGiven below are the minimum investments required in different types of post office saving accounts:Account nameMinimum amount required to open accountSavings account (Cheque account)Rs 20Savings account (non Cheque account)Rs 20Monthly Income Scheme (MIS)Rs 1,500Fixed Deposit (FD) AccountRs 200Public Provident Fund (PPF)Rs 500Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS)Rs 1,000(Source: India Post website)Interest ratesFor the current quarter, ending on June 30, 2019, investment in post office small savings schemes fetch returns to the tune of 4-8.7 per cent, according to a Ministry of Finance statement dated March 29, 2019.
Here are the interest rates of all types of post office saving schemes:Post office small saving schemeRate of interest for quarter ending March 31, 2019Compounding frequencySavings Deposit4.00%Annually1-Year Time Deposit7.00%Quarterly2-Year Time Deposit7.00%Quarterly3-Year Time Deposit7.00%Quarterly5-Year Time Deposit7.80%Quarterly5-Year Recurring Deposit7.30%Quarterly5-Year Senior Citizen Savings Scheme8.70%Quarterly and paid5-Year Monthly Income Scheme7.70%Monthly and paid5-Year National Savings Certificate8.00%AnnuallyPublic Provident Fund Scheme8.00%AnnuallyKisan Vikas Patra7.7% (will mature in 112 months)AnnuallySukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme8.50%Annually(As mentioned on India Post's official website)Premature closurePremature closure facility (or encashment of certificates in case of NSCs) is also available in some of the small saving schemes.
Here are premature closure period provided by different post office saving schemes:NSCs (VIII Issue)Maturity period 5 years (for certificates issued on or after 01.11.2011) No premature encashment possibleDifferent Savings AccountsSavings accountCan be closed at any timeRecurring DepositPremature closure permissible after 3 years - only SB rate is permissibleTime DepositPremature closure permissible after 6 monthsMonthly Income SchemePremature closure permissible after 1 yearSenior Citizens Savings SchemePremature closure after 1 yearIncome tax benefitsSome of the post office saving schemes also qualifies for income tax benefits.
Using these products, an investor can claim a deduction up to Rs 1.5 lakh in a financial year from taxable income under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.
Income tax benefits are available on Time Deposit (TD), Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS), Public Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificates (NSCs).