If you have ever stood at a post office counter holding a slip of paper and asked “which one should I actually pick?”, you are not alone. The counter staff hear it every day. There are seven main schemes, they all pay government-set interest, and every one of them has a lock-in period that can bite you.
This page does one thing: puts all seven in one place, with one rate table, one set of withdrawal and closure rules, and links to the deeper pages for the details. It is the map. The individual guides are the territory.
Rate quarter: 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2026 (Q3 of FY 2026-27). Notified 30 September 2026. Rates unchanged from the previous quarter. Check this line every time you read anything on this topic, including ours. Small savings rates move four times a year, and plenty of articles online never got the memo.
Where each scheme is explained in depth
| Scheme | Deep guide | This page covers |
|---|---|---|
| PPF (Public Provident Fund) | PPF rules, limits, withdrawal and maturity | Rate, lock-in, the two withdrawal ceilings |
| NSC (National Savings Certificate) | NSC VIII Issue guide | 5 years, and why you basically cannot break it |
| KVP (Kisan Vikas Patra) | KVP doubling, pledging, premature encashment | The 115-month promise |
| MIS (Monthly Income Scheme) | MIS payout and deposit ceilings | Monthly income, fully taxable |
| SSY (Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana) | SSY guardian guide and withdrawal conditions | 21 years, 50% education withdrawal |
| SCSS (Senior Citizens Savings Scheme) | SCSS opening, premature withdrawal penalty, 80TTB, SCSS vs bank FD | Rate, ₹30 lakh ceiling, 8.2% |
| Post Office Savings Account | POSA rules and passbook mechanics | 4%, withdrawal rules, silent accounts |
Also worth reading rather than duplicating here: SCSS premature withdrawal penalty, how to open an SCSS account, SCSS interest, tax and 80TTB, SCSS on a joint account and senior citizens, SCSS vs bank FD, PPF vs EPF vs VPF vs NPS, loan against PPF, nomination vs will, and DICGC deposit insurance.
The rate table (Oct to Dec 2026)
Source: Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, quarterly rate notification dated 30 September 2026, reproduced by India Post.
| Scheme | Rate a year | How interest is credited | Yearly ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| PPF | 7.1% | Compounded yearly, credited 31 March | ₹1.5 lakh |
| NSC (VIII Issue) | 7.7% | Compounded yearly | No annual cap, ₹1,000 minimum |
| KVP | 7.5% | Doubles in 115 months | No cap |
| MIS | 7.4% | Paid monthly | ₹9 lakh single, ₹15 lakh joint |
| SSY | 8.2% | Compounded yearly, credited 31 March | ₹1.5 lakh |
| SCSS | 8.2% | Paid quarterly, does not compound inside the account | ₹30 lakh |
| Post Office Savings Account | 4.0% | Compounded yearly | No cap |
| 1-year Time Deposit | 6.9% | Quarterly | No cap |
| 2-year Time Deposit | 7.0% | Quarterly | No cap |
| 3-year Time Deposit | 7.1% | Quarterly | No cap |
| 5-year Time Deposit | 7.5% | Quarterly | No cap |
| 5-year Recurring Deposit | 6.7% | Quarterly | No cap |
Two things to notice. First, SCSS and SSY pay the most, and both have age and eligibility gates. Second, the savings account pays 4% while everything else pays 6.7% and up. If someone tells you “post office savings pays a great rate”, ask which one they mean.
Why these rates sit where they do
The government does not price these schemes by opinion. A 2014 committee headed by Shyamala Gopinath recommended benchmarking each scheme to government bond yields of similar maturity; the spread of roughly 25 to 100 basis points on top came later as policy, not from the committee. The 10-year government bond yield crossed 7% in the July to September 2026 quarter and CPI inflation rose to 4.82% in August 2026. Both point toward higher rates. The government left them unchanged anyway.
It is not bound by the formula. That is worth knowing, because it means the next revision is a political decision, not a formula. PPF has sat at 7.1% since the April 2020 quarter, so the rate most people plan around has not moved in over six years. Do not build a plan that assumes the next quarter brings good news.
The rules, all seven in one table
This is the table most people actually need and almost nobody has in one place.
| Scheme | Lock-in | Earliest you can take money out | Age gate |
|---|---|---|---|
| PPF | 15 years, then extendable in 5-year blocks | Partial withdrawal from year 7 | None |
| NSC | 5 years | Not before maturity, in practice | None |
| KVP | 115 months (9 years 7 months) | On your own application after 2 years 6 months, at a fixed table value | None |
| MIS | 5 years | After 1 year | None |
| SSY | 21 years | 50% at 18, for education | Open before she turns 10 |
| SCSS | 5 years | After 1 year | 60+, or 55+ if retired |
| POSA | None | No lock-in; see withdrawal rule below | None |
PPF, in plain words
Minimum ₹500 opening deposit, then multiples of ₹50, maximum ₹1.5 lakh a financial year including any account you run for a minor (paragraph 4, the 2019 Scheme). One rule bites more ordinary contributors than any other on this page: if you miss the ₹500 minimum in a later year the account is treated as discontinued under paragraph 6. You can revive it during the maturity period by paying ₹50 for each defaulting year along with the arrears, and until you do, neither a loan nor a partial withdrawal is available from it. An unrevived account still earns interest up to maturity, but you cannot open a second one. The account matures after 15 complete financial years from the end of the year you opened it, and you extend it in blocks of 5 years. A year you miss the ₹500 minimum marks the account discontinued, and you can revive it during the maturity period by paying a ₹50 fee per defaulting year.
The bit people get wrong is that there are two different withdrawal ceilings, at two different stages of the account’s life. Partial withdrawal is one thing, under paragraph 10 of the 2019 Scheme, and the arithmetic of it trips people up. The scheme allows it “after the expiry of five years from the end of the year in which the account was opened” — so an account opened in 2019-20 sees those five years expire on 31 March 2025, and the first day you may withdraw is 1 April 2025, the 7th financial year. The two are not the same number: the 5th financial year ends a year before the five years have run out. It is capped at 50% of whichever is lower: the balance at the end of the fourth financial year immediately preceding the withdrawal, or the balance at the end of the immediately preceding financial year, less any loan you still owe. Once the account matures and you extend it, the ceiling changes. Under paragraph 12(4), in each 5-year extension block you may make withdrawals totalling no more than 60% of the balance at the commencement of that block. At ₹10 lakh, that is ₹6 lakh out and ₹4 lakh locked across the five years. The 60% is a ceiling on the block, not a fresh allowance each year, and a post office will usually let you take it as a single withdrawal or spread it across yearly instalments rather than making you wait for the block to end. This is the whole reason “I can withdraw part of it” is not the same as “I can get my money out”. Loans run from year 2 to year 5 under paragraph 8, up to 25% of the balance at the end of the second financial year before the year you apply. Repay the principal within thirty-six months or interest runs at six per cent a year instead of one per cent under paragraph 9, which is the most easily missed cost in the whole scheme.
PPF money is protected from attachment: paragraph 15 bars attachment of the balance under any court order or decree. The deposit qualifies for the deduction under section 123 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, read with Schedule XV.
The interest exemption is a separate provision and sits in a different place. PPF interest is exempt from tax under section 11 read with Schedule II, entry 3 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, with one condition that catches people out. Where your own contribution in a tax year exceeds ₹5,00,000, the interest attributable to that excess is not excluded from your total income. At the ₹1.5 lakh yearly limit, no reader is anywhere near it, but someone consolidating old accounts can cross it, and that is precisely who should know. The entry also says the non-excluded amount is computed in the prescribed manner, and we have not yet located the rule that sets out how.
NSC: five years, and the numbers people quote instead
The VIII Issue runs 5 years, with a ₹1,000 minimum and thereafter multiples of ₹100, and no maximum deposit. At 7.7% compounded yearly, ₹10,000 grows to about ₹14,490 by maturity. That is the gazetted maturity value, ₹1,449.03 for every ₹1,000 deposited on or after 1 April 2023 under G.S.R. 328(E) of 27 April 2023, and it tracks the notified rate, so it moves when the rate is revised rather than sitting still. The arithmetic is modest. The appeal is the lock-in.
Here is the other side. Premature encashment is permitted only on the death of a holder, forfeiture by a pledgee, or a court order. Within one year you get only the face value. Between one and three years you get face value plus simple interest at the savings account rate. After three years a fixed table of amounts applies, which is a deep discount against the 7.7% you were promised. Anyone describing NSC as “breakable” is describing a narrow, expensive exception, not a feature.
Two numbers get misquoted, so it is worth naming both.
The certificate you can buy today runs five years, with a ₹1,000 minimum. The ₹10,000 minimum you will still see quoted is not the current one, and it was never a minimum at all: under the 1989 Rules, certificates came in denominations and could be purchased for any amount, with no floor. The ₹1,000 minimum arrives with the 2019 Scheme. If a figure you have seen does not match these, check which series and which version of the rules it came from before you act on it.
Here is the other thing worth knowing. At 7.7%, your money takes about nine years and four months to double. The certificate is five years long. So the doubling everyone associates with this scheme sits outside the instrument altogether, and that is part of why five years still feels longer than the number on the certificate suggests.
On tax, the NSC deposit qualifies for the deduction under section 123 read with Schedule XV. The maturity interest sits under a different provision: section 11 read with Schedule II, entry 11, which covers interest and other payments on savings certificates and deposits issued by the Central Government. That entry is conditional. It applies only where the certificate or deposit has been notified by the Central Government, subject to whatever conditions and limits the notification specifies. We have not pulled the operative notification, so we are not going to tell you it is on the list. If your maturity interest is taxed, that is the provision to look at.
KVP: the doubling bet
Put in a lump sum, get exactly double at 115 months. No cap on the deposit, and 7.5% sits below NSC at 7.7% despite the simpler promise. Minimum deposit ₹1,000, in multiples of ₹100. A single account can also be opened by a minor aged ten or above; joint accounts come in Joint A, payable to all holders jointly or to the survivors, and Joint B, payable to any holder or to the survivor.
The catch is the early exit, and almost every page on this scheme gets it wrong in one direction or the other. Under paragraph 6 of the KVP Scheme 2019, before two years and six months have passed an ordinary holder cannot close the account at all. The only routes are the death of the account holder, forfeiture by a pledgee who is a Gazetted Officer, or an order of a court, and on those the payout is principal plus simple interest at the savings account rate for complete months. After two years and six months you can close on your own application, and that is where the real trap sits: paragraph 6(3) pays the Table-1 amount for accounts opened in the original window, and Table-2 for anything opened on or after 1 April 2020, which is every account a reader today can open. On a ₹1,000 account under Table-2, close at two-and-a-half to three years and you get ₹1,154, at three to three-and-a-half ₹1,188, at three-and-a-half to four ₹1,222, at four to four-and-a-half ₹1,258. Wait the full term and it is ₹2,000. Those figures are the penalty. The account is breakable, and breaking it is expensive.
Interest is taxable unless the notification covers it, and unlike PPF and SSY there is no unconditional exemption here. KVP is the kind of instrument the exclusion in section 11 read with Schedule II, entry 11 is aimed at, since that entry covers interest on certificates and deposits issued by the Central Government, but the entry only bites where the instrument has been notified by the Central Government. We have not pulled the operative notification, so we are not asserting that KVP is or is not on it. Check before you treat the interest as tax-free. And the maturity period is set by the rate applicable when you opened the account, not the rate when you close it, so a later rate rise does not shorten your wait.
MIS: income, not growth
7.4%, paid monthly, deposits in multiples of ₹1,000. ₹9 lakh in a single account, ₹15 lakh joint, and you may hold more than one account as long as you stay inside those totals. It matures in 5 years and can be closed prematurely after one year.
MIS interest is fully taxable. Every rupee of that ₹5,550 a month on ₹9 lakh is in your hands, and all of it is taxable. Do the maths on your own slab before you treat it as salary.
SSY: the long bet on a child
21 years to maturity, compounded yearly. The Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme 2019, paragraph 4(1), sets a minimum initial deposit of ₹250 and multiples of ₹50 thereafter. The companion rules require at least ₹250 in each financial year and cap deposits at ₹1.5 lakh a year. The 2014 Rules that set ₹1,000 and multiples of ₹100 were made under the Government Savings Banks Act 1873 and were superseded when the 2019 Scheme took effect on 12 December 2019. If a post office quotes you ₹1,000, it is quoting the old instrument.
It can be opened for a girl child from birth until she turns 10, one account per girl, two accounts per guardian unless the girls are twins or triplets. At 8.2%, the rate paragraph 5(1C) of the 2019 Scheme itself prescribes, ₹1.5 lakh a year deposited at the start of each financial year for 15 years, then six years of no deposits and no withdrawal, grows to ₹71.8 lakh at the 21-year mark, of which ₹49.3 lakh is interest. The six idle years still earn, because interest is credited at the end of every financial year right up to maturity. Paragraph 5(2) of the 2019 Scheme requires interest to be credited to the account at the end of each financial year, which is why the six idle years still earn.
Deposits stop when the account completes 15 years, per paragraph 4(3). A year you miss can be regularised any time up to that point by paying a ₹50 penalty for the year. From 18, or once she has passed the tenth standard if that is earlier, she can withdraw up to 50% of the balance at the end of the previous financial year, and paragraph 8(1) of the 2019 Scheme allows it for education only. Marriage is not a withdrawal ground here; marriage closes the account, under paragraph 9(2). If she marries before 21, the account can be closed on intended marriage; she must declare on non-judicial stamp paper before a notary that she is at least 18. Deposit qualifies for the deduction under section 123 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, read with Schedule XV, and the account is exempt under section 11 read with Schedule II, Sl. No. 5, which is the entry for payments from an account opened under the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme, 2019 and carries Nil conditions.
SCSS: the good rate, and who can get it
8.2%, paid quarterly on the first working day of April, July, October and January, which makes it the best regular quarterly income on offer at the post office — though the interest does not compound inside the account. Maximum ₹30 lakh. 5-year term, extendable, premature closure allowed after one year.
The age gate: 60 and above. Or 55 and above if you have retired under superannuation, VRS or special VRS. Retired defence personnel can open it at 50. Quarterly interest is credited on the first working day of April, July, October and January.
POSA
4%, compounded yearly, no cap, no lock-in. Minimum ₹500. A withdrawal cannot be for less than ₹5, and none is allowed that would take the balance below ₹50 in an account without a cheque facility or ₹500 in one with. At an Extra Departmental Sub Savings Bank or a Branch Savings Bank, only one withdrawal a day is allowed. A joint account can be opened by up to three adults, payable to all the holders jointly or to the survivors (Joint A) or to any one holder or the survivor (Joint B). Deposits can be pledged against a loan. An account with no deposit or withdrawal for three complete years becomes a silent account. Where the balance is below the minimum for an account without a cheque facility, a service charge of ₹20 is deducted on the last working day of each financial year and you get a notice to reactivate; if you do nothing the charge continues to be levied and the account closes automatically once the balance reaches nil, with a further notice when it does. The charge is a flat ₹20 each year, not a rising one.
You will also see the “one withdrawal per financial year” line repeated widely online for POSA. That restriction appears in the department’s operating manuals for some account types and in particular for guardians operating a minor’s account. It is not in the wording of the Post Office Savings Account Rules, 1981, which say one per day at a sub or branch bank. Ask your post office which rule applies to your account rather than assuming either version.
Four percent is a real number and it is a low one. Keep POSA for the money you need accessible, not for the money you are trying to grow.
Interest here is taxable at your slab, with no exemption. The section 153 deduction for interest on post office deposits still applies, at ₹10,000 for an individual under 60 or a HUF on savings account interest and ₹50,000 for a senior citizen on all deposits including time deposits. Whether any TDS is actually deducted depends on a provision we have not resolved, and our POSA page sets out that open point rather than guessing at it.
Worked examples
Example 1: the PPF power of compounding
₹1.5 lakh at the start of every year for 15 years at 7.1%, compounded yearly.
You put in ₹22.5 lakh. You get roughly ₹40.7 lakh at maturity. Interest earned: about ₹18.2 lakh. Paragraph 7(2) of the PPF Scheme 2019 credits the interest once, at the end of each financial year, so 7.1% is the rate you actually earn.
Nothing clever is happening. The interest starts earning interest, and then the interest earns interest.
Example 2: SCSS for a retiree
₹30,000 a year into SCSS accounts for 5 years at 8.2%, with each year’s deposit made at the start of the financial year and the quarterly interest withdrawn rather than left to compound. An SCSS account takes a single deposit, so this is ₹30,000 into a fresh account each year, which is what people actually do up to the ₹30 lakh aggregate limit.
₹30,000 x 5 years is ₹1.5 lakh contributed, and the balance at maturity is ₹1,86,900, of which ₹36,900 is interest. That is the number to plan on, and it is smaller than it looks because SCSS is one of the few places interest does not compound: under paragraph 5(4) of the scheme, quarterly interest that you do not claim earns no additional interest. Each year’s deposit therefore earns only for the years it is actually held — the first earns for five, the last for one. Deposit at the end of each year instead and the same contributions give ₹1,74,600, with ₹24,600 of interest, so the timing of the deposit is worth ₹12,300 at maturity. On a ₹30,000 balance the quarterly credit is about ₹615, paid on the first working day of April, July, October and January. The one thing that does grow the interest is the sweep: unclaimed quarterly interest is transferred to a Post Office Savings Account rather than lost, where it earns the savings rate.
Now the honest part: SCSS interest is taxable at your slab, and whatever you contribute also sits inside the section 123 ceiling, competing with PPF, ELSS and your EPF. At ₹30,000 a year you are nowhere near that ceiling. At ₹1.5 lakh a year you would fill it on this account alone. SCSS wins on rate. It does not get its own deduction.
Example 3: what the monthly income actually looks like
₹9 lakh in MIS at 7.4% pays ₹5,550 a month, ₹66,600 a year. The ₹15 lakh joint ceiling pays ₹9,250 a month.
That ₹66,600 is your gross income, not your take-home. Set aside the tax and MIS stops looking like a salary and starts looking like what it is: a fixed deposit with monthly payouts.
Example 4: the cost of breaking early
Two cases, and the difference matters more than the penalty.
Take ₹1.5 lakh a year into PPF for eight years, ₹12 lakh in all, and suppose you then close the account on one of the grounds paragraph 13 allows: a life-threatening disease, higher education, or a change in residency status. The account cannot be closed before five years from the end of the year it was opened. At maturity the balance is ₹16,54,185 at 7.1%. On closure the interest rate drops one percentage point to 6.1% for the whole account, and the same eight years of deposits are then worth ₹15,80,847. The cost is ₹73,338 on ₹12 lakh contributed, and it comes off the entire balance rather than off the amount you withdraw.
Now the same money in year 10, withdrawn as a partial withdrawal instead of a closure. From the 7th financial year a partial withdrawal carries no penalty at all. You take the balance plus 7.1% interest, nothing deducted.
So “can I get out early?” has two very different answers depending on whether you are closing the account or drawing part of it. Check which one you are actually doing before you assume you owe a penalty.
Lock-in: the part nobody mentions
Every scheme on this page has strings attached, and they differ more than the rates do.
PPF is 15 years, extendable. The flexibility people assume a savings account has does not exist here. NSC is 5 years on paper and effectively unbreakable in practice. KVP is 115 months, and you cannot touch it at all in the first two and a half years; after that you can close it, but only at a fixed table value that runs far below what compounding at 7.5% would suggest. SSY is 21 years, tied to a child and to her age 18. MIS and SCSS are the softest, both giving you a route out after one year. POSA has no lock-in at all.
The test worth running: could you survive a job loss in year three? If the answer is no, then PPF’s 15 years or an SSY tied to a child’s education is not a savings plan, it is a bet on your own job security.
The five-year schemes are not the same commitment as each other, which is the part this page keeps finding. NSC runs five years and will not let you out before then at anything like the rate you were promised. MIS and SCSS also run five years, but both give you a route out after one year. Same term on paper, very different flexibility. What matters is not how long a scheme is on the certificate, it is how long before you can actually reach the money.
There is one genuine escape hatch, and it is easy to miss. Several of these instruments can be pledged to a bank for a loan while you keep them invested. KVP and NSC carry a loan facility by pledging with banks, and PPF allows a loan from after the first year to before the fifth, under paragraph 8(1) of the 2019 Scheme. Borrowing against your PPF at 7.1% to keep some of it invested at 7.1% is not clever, it is a wash, and the loan rate is often higher than the deposit rate. But borrowing to avoid a forced closure, or to fund a shortfall while you keep compounding, is a real option many people do not know they have. Ask at the post office, because the facility is scheme-specific.
Risks, stated plainly
The rate can fall. It is set quarterly by the government and it is a policy decision. SCSS at 8.2% is the best rate in this table and the government can change it in any review. Build your plan so that a lower rate does not break it.
“Government-backed” is not the same as “risk-free”. Your money is safe from market losses. It is exposed to inflation. At 4% on POSA with inflation near 5%, your real return is negative. A long commitment like PPF’s 15 years is safe in nominal terms and can lose ground in real terms.
Tax rules can change. Two different provisions are in play here and they are easy to confuse. The deduction for PPF, SSY, NSC and SCSS contributions is section 123 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, read with Schedule XV, and it aggregates at ₹1,50,000. The exemption for the interest itself is section 11 read with Schedule II, and the entry that applies differs by scheme: entry 3 for PPF, entry 5 for SSY (Nil conditions), entry 11 for savings certificates and deposits such as NSC and KVP, where the entry only applies if the instrument has been notified. A deduction and an exemption are not the same thing. The Income-tax Act, 2025 came into force on 1 April 2026 and replaced the old 80C, 80TTA and 80TTB numbering with sections 123 and 153, so older articles using 80C and 80TTB are describing the previous framework. We use the current numbering here.
Interest on MIS, KVP and NSC may not be exempt. PPF and SSY carry clear exemptions. For the others, whether the interest escapes tax turns on the relevant Schedule II entry and, for entry 11, on a notification we have not pulled. We are not going to tell you a scheme is tax-free when we cannot show you the notification behind it. Assume interest is taxable until you have checked.
Lock-in has an opportunity cost. Fifteen years at 7.1% is a fine deal when nothing else is safe. It is a poor deal if your savings are doing all the work of your retirement plan and your growth assets are elsewhere.
Premature exit is expensive. NSC discounts, PPF’s one-percentage-point interest penalty on closure, and KVP’s fixed closure table, on top of lost compounding. Assume any early exit costs you several years of growth.
What to do today
- Open the post office savings app or visit nsiindia.gov.in and check the current rate yourself. Do not trust a number, including ours, without the quarter attached to it.
- Write down your actual goal in one sentence, with a date. “Daughter’s college in 2034”, “monthly income after I stop working”. The scheme follows the goal, never the other way round.
- Run your number through the worked examples above with your own deposits. You learn more from one honest calculation than from another article.
- Check the age gate on the scheme you are eyeing. SCSS and SSY pay the most and both lock you out on age.
- If your emergency fund is not yet six months of expenses, build that first. A savings account at 4% with no lock-in is the right instrument for money you might need in March.
- Read one deep page, not six, before you sign anything. The scheme-specific guide will tell you what this page deliberately leaves out.
Key takeaway
Rates are not the differentiator here. SCSS and SSY pay 8.2%, and SSY’s interest is exempt under section 11 read with Schedule II with no conditions attached, which makes it the strongest of the two after tax. But SSY lasts 21 years and is only for one specific person. POSA has no lock-in and pays 4%. The scheme that suits you is the one whose lock-in matches your goal date and whose tax treatment matches your slab. Everything else is detail.
FAQs
1. Which small savings scheme has the highest interest rate right now?
SCSS and SSY at 8.2% each, for the quarter 1 October to 31 December 2026. SSY at 8.2% is also fully tax-free, so it is the strongest of the two on an after-tax basis, but it is only available for a girl child under 10.
2. What is the current PPF interest rate and when was it last changed?
7.1% a year, compounded yearly. The rate has been unchanged since the April 2020 quarter and was held unchanged again in the 30 September 2026 review.
3. Can I withdraw from PPF before 15 years?
Partly. Partial withdrawal is allowed once a year from the 7th financial year, capped at 50% of whichever is lower: the balance at the end of the fourth financial year immediately preceding the withdrawal, or the balance at the end of the previous financial year, less any loan outstanding. After maturity, each 5-year extension block carries its own 60% ceiling under paragraph 12(4), based on the balance at the start of that block. Premature closure before 15 years is allowed only on specified grounds and never before five years, and it costs one percentage point of interest on the whole balance.
4. Why does KVP at 7.5% take 115 months to double when the maths says less?
Because the scheme pays twice your deposit, not a compound rate. Simple division of 7.5% monthly gives about 111 months to double. The scheme fixes the doubling period in whole months by notification, and it is 115, which is 9 years and 7 months. The extra stretch is not a penalty you can argue with, and it is also not a cost: your money keeps earning the whole time. You cannot choose to cash out at 111.
Note also that the maturity period is fixed by the rate applicable when you opened the account, under paragraph 5(2) of the scheme. If rates rise later, your existing KVP keeps its original maturity date and still doubles. 115 months is the period notified for the current 7.5% rate. The period was 124 months at 6.9%, which ran from April 2020 to September 2022, so the figure moves with the rate in force on the day you open.
5. Is MIS interest taxed?
It is taxable, and there is no exemption for it. The monthly payout is your gross income and you pay tax on it at your slab. That is not the end of it: the deduction for interest on deposits with a post office is section 153 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, which allows ₹10,000 of interest for an individual under 60 or a HUF, and ₹50,000 for a senior citizen, with post offices named explicitly in the section. That deduction replaces the old 80TTA and 80TTB. Whether tax is actually deducted at source on a post office account depends on a provision we have not resolved, so treat the deduction above as the settled part and the withholding as the open one. Our POSA page sets out what is unresolved, and our TDS and 15G/15H page covers the thresholds and the 15G/15H route for where it does apply.
6. Can I open more than one MIS account?
Yes. You may hold multiple MIS accounts, but the combined deposits stay inside ₹9 lakh for single accounts and ₹15 lakh across joint accounts.
7. What is the SSY withdrawal limit after she turns 18?
Up to 50% of the balance at the end of the preceding financial year, for the account holder’s education, from the earlier of her 18th birthday or passing the tenth standard. It may be taken in instalments, up to one a year, for at most five years. Marriage is a closure event, not a withdrawal: on intended marriage the account may be closed before 21.
8. Can a boy be named in an SSY account?
No. SSY is only for a girl child, and the account must be opened before she turns 10. There is a separate scheme, Sukanya Samriddhi Samarthya, for a boy child, covered separately.
9. What happens to my SSY if she marries before 21?
The account may be closed on intended marriage, on a declaration duly signed on non-judicial stamp paper and attested by the notary, backed by proof of age confirming she is at least 18. It cannot be closed in the month before the marriage, or more than three months after it.
10. Is the money in a PPF or NSC account attachable by a court?
The balance in a PPF account is not subject to attachment under any court order or decree, under the scheme rules. For NSC and other certificates, nomination and transmission are a separate matter and depend on the terms of the instrument, so read our nomination and legal heir guide.
11. Can I open an SCSS account at 55 without retiring?
No. Between 55 and 60 you need to have retired under superannuation, VRS or special VRS. Retired defence personnel, excluding civilian defence employees, can open at 50.
12. Are these deposits covered by DICGC insurance?
DICGC insures bank deposits, principal and interest together, up to ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank. It does not list the individual small savings schemes either way in its own guide, so treat the answer scheme by scheme rather than assuming. The instruments issued under the Government Savings Promotion Act, such as NSC, KVP, MIS and SCSS, are government securities rather than bank deposits, so insurance is not the protection to rely on there; your protection is different and stronger: these are direct, unconditional liabilities of the Government of India, not assets sitting in a bank that can fail. Our DICGC guide covers the limit and the aggregation rules in detail.
Affiliate disclosure
This article contains links to India Post, the National Savings Institute and the Department of Economic Affairs for factual reference, and to our own related guides. We may earn a commission if you open an account through some links on this site. That does not change which scheme we describe or how we describe it. We do not take payment to change a rate, a rule or a figure, and we do not recommend specific schemes as suitable for any individual.
This is general educational information about government schemes. It is not personalised investment, tax or legal advice. Rules, rates and tax provisions change. Check the current notification on nsiindia.gov.in and the scheme rules before you act.
Rates and rules verified 2 October 2026 against the Department of Economic Affairs notification of 30 September 2026 and the National Savings Institute scheme pages. Investment in securities market subject to market risks; read all related documents carefully before investing.
Sources
- Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, quarterly interest-rate notification dated 30 September 2026, for the quarter 1 October to 31 December 2026 (rates unchanged from Q2 FY 2026-27)
- National Savings Institute, interest rate on National Savings Schemes
- National Savings Institute, Public Provident Fund Account
- Public Provident Fund Scheme, 2019 (GSR 915(E), 12 December 2019) – the operative instrument, it replaced the 1968 Scheme
Paragraph map, so no figure has to be re-derived: 4 limits of subscription, 5 manner of making deposit, 6 discontinuance and revival, 7 interest, 8 loans, 9 repayment of loan and interest, 10 withdrawal, 12 extension after maturity (12(4) the 60% block ceiling), 13 premature closure, 15 protection from attachment.
– Public Provident Fund Scheme, 1968 (GSR 403(E)) – repealed, cited for history only
– National Savings Institute, National Savings Certificates (VIII Issue) Rules, 1989
– National Savings Certificates (VIII Issue) Scheme, 2019 (GSR 919(E), amended GSR 284(E)) – the operative instrument for a certificate bought today
– National Savings Certificates (VIII Issue) (Second Amendment) Scheme, 2023, G.S.R. 328(E) dated 27 April 2023
– National Savings Institute, National Savings Certificate (VIII Issue) scheme page
– National Savings Institute, Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme, 2019 (GSR 914(E), amended GSR 288(E))
– Sukanya Samriddhi Account (Amendment) Scheme, 2024 (GSR 109(E), 12 February 2024, deemed in force 1 January 2024) – inserts paragraph 5(1C) prescribing 8.2%
– National Savings Institute, Kisan Vikas Patra Scheme, 2019 (GSR 920(E))
– Post Office Savings Account Rules, 1981 (GSR 663(E))
– National Savings Institute, scheme-wise maturity and feature table
– DICGC, A Guide to Deposit Insurance
– Income-tax Act, 2025, Schedule II (income not to be included in total income, see section 11)
– Income-tax Act, 2025, Schedule XV (sums qualifying for deduction under section 123)
– Reserve Bank of India and CPI inflation figures for August 2026, quoted in Economic Times coverage of the 30 September 2026 review
Open items
Two items remain open, both deliberately left unresolved rather than guessed at.
1. The apportionment rule behind Schedule II, entry 3. The entry sets the ₹5,00,000 and ₹2,50,000 thresholds, both confirmed against the Act, and confirms that the interest attributable to contributions made on or after 1 April 2021 above the threshold is not excluded. What we have not located is the rule prescribing how that non-excluded amount is computed. Entry 3(b) leaves it to be prescribed. The published paragraph states the threshold and says the computation is in the prescribed manner without putting a figure on it. No worked example appears, because any number would require the missing rule.
2. The operative notification under Schedule II, entry 11. Entry 11 covers interest and other payments on securities, bonds, annuity certificates, savings certificates, other Central Government certificates and deposits, but conditions the exclusion on the certificate or deposit having been notified by the Central Government, subject to the conditions and limits in that notification. We have not pulled it. The article therefore states the mechanism for NSC and KVP and does not assert that either is or is not on the list. This one is closeable with a single notification lookup.
Section numbering is settled. This page uses section 123 (read with Schedule XV) for the deduction and section 11 read with Schedule II for the interest exemptions. The site’s existing claim that 80C became section 123 and 80TTA/80TTB merged into section 153 from FY 2026-27 is correct, confirmed against the Act text off the Income Tax Department portal.
Note for anyone re-checking this: there are two different section 123s on the portal. incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-123-92 is the 2025 Act deduction section; -90 is the 1961 Act’s section 123 on gift of immovable property. Landing on the wrong one makes the renumbering look false when it is not.
