Rates as in force at 1 October 2026. Government small-savings rates are those notified for the third quarter of FY 2026-27 (1 October to 31 December 2026), unchanged from the previous quarter. Bank FD rates move on their own cycle and are dated individually below.
Ask any retired person in India what they are doing with their savings and you will get a list, not an answer. Post office account. One bank FD. Another FD in a different bank. A small amount in the post office “because the rate is better”. Maybe a policy someone bought twenty years ago and has not looked at since.
That is not a failure of memory. It is what happens when six different schemes have six different rules and no single page explains which one is which.
This page is that single page. It does not tell you what to buy. It tells you what each thing is for, who it is actually for, and where to read more — so you can pick the one that matches your situation, then go read it properly.
The one question that sorts everything
Almost every choice in this cluster comes down to a single question:
Do you need the money to arrive as income, or do you need it to still be there later?
- If you need income now, from your own money, and you have a lump sum: SCSS or a bank senior FD.
- If you need the money later, for something specific, and you can leave it alone: PPF.
- If you want a pension rather than interest: that is a different family entirely — PM-SYM, PMVVY (legacy only) and NPS Vatsalya — and each has eligibility rules that rule most readers out.
That is the map. Everything below is detail on it.
Who suits which scheme
| Scheme | What it is | Who it is actually for | Rate, dated |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCSS | Government deposit, post office or authorised bank | You are 60+, you have a lump sum, you want quarterly income | 8.2%, 1 Oct–31 Dec 2026 |
| Bank senior FD | Bank deposit, DICG-insured | You are above the ₹30 lakh line, or want the money back in tranches, or need it inside 5 years | 7.05% at SBI for 5–10 yrs, w.e.f. 15/12/2025 |
| PPF | 15-year government deposit, tax-exempt interest | You can genuinely leave money untouched for 15 years | 7.1%, 1 Oct–31 Dec 2026 |
| PM-SYM | Pension, half paid by the Centre | Unorganised-sector workers, 18–40, earning ₹15,000 or less a month | ₹3,000/month assured, PIB 03.08.2026 |
| PMVVY | LIC pension policy | Nobody new. Existing holders only | Withdrawn 31.03.2023 |
| NPS Vatsalya | Market-linked pension for a child | A parent or guardian, for a child under 18 | Market-linked. No guaranteed figure |
| 80TTB | A deduction, not an investment | Any senior whose interest income is being taxed | Deduct up to ₹50,000 of interest income. Old regime only |
SCSS: income now, from your own money
This is the only government small-savings product built specifically for retirees. You deposit, the government pays you every three months for five years, and the rate is locked from the day you deposit.
The headline numbers, all date-stamped:
- Rate 8.2% a year for 1 October to 31 December 2026. Notified 30 September 2026; unchanged from the July–September quarter — DEA Office Memorandum No. 1/4/2019-NS dated 30 September 2026.
- Ceiling ₹30 lakh per person, across all your SCSS accounts in every bank and post office combined. A husband and wife who are both eligible can hold ₹30 lakh each.
- Payouts quarterly — first working day of April, July, October and January. Not monthly. This surprises people every single quarter.
- Interest is fully taxable at your slab. It is not tax-free like PPF interest.
- 80C eligible — up to the ₹1.5 lakh aggregate cap, and only under the old tax regime. The default regime carries no 80C at all.
On ₹30 lakh at 8.2%, a year of interest is ₹2,46,000. On ₹10 lakh it is ₹82,000. Both are real numbers, and both matter for the tax question below.
The scheme is not strictly a five-year product. After the first five years you can extend in three-year blocks, and you can keep doing that. The words “only once” were removed from the scheme rules in November 2023.
Want to open one? Check India Post’s savings schemes for the current scheme list, then the forms, the documents, the joint-account rules and which banks are authorised are all in how to open an SCSS account at a post office, SBI or ICICI.
Three things about SCSS that catch people
You cannot borrow against it. No loan, no pledge, no partial pledge. If you need money before the term ends, you close the account and pay the penalty. That is the most common misunderstanding about SCSS.
If you retired between 55 and 60, you have a window. Three months from the date you received your retirement benefits, with an employer certificate, and your deposit is capped at what you received. Retired Defence personnel can open at 50. This was extended from one month to three months in November 2023.
The deposit ceiling for that group stays capped forever. You may open at 55, but you cannot later top up to the full ₹30 lakh. The threshold catches up with you; the ceiling does not.
If the thought of needing money early is what is holding you back, read what it really costs to close an SCSS account early. The penalty is the smaller number — the tax consequence is larger.
SCSS is not obviously better than a bank FD
Most pages in this cluster lean one way. Let me put the other side plainly, once.
At 8.2% against 7.05%, the gap is 115 basis points. On ₹30 lakh that is roughly ₹34,500 a year more in interest. Real money.
But put the same ₹30 lakh in one bank FD and you have an insurance problem SCSS does not have. Deposit insurance covers ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank — principal and interest, all branches counted as one bank. Thirty lakh in a single bank is six times that cover. In SCSS that exposure does not exist, because the government is the obligor.
So the honest comparison is not “8.2% beats 7.05%”. It is: SCSS has a ceiling and no insurance limit; FDs have no ceiling and a ₹5 lakh limit per bank. For most people under ₹30 lakh, the practical difference is smaller than the rate gap suggests, and for a large balance, splitting across banks is what closes the gap.
If you want the two laid out side by side with the arithmetic: SCSS vs bank FD for senior citizens.
PPF: money you will not touch for fifteen years
PPF is the odd one out, because the interest is exempt from tax. Not taxed at a lower rate — exempt.
- 7.1% a year, notified for 1 October to 31 December 2026.
- 15 years from the end of the year you open it. Then extendable in blocks of five.
- Section 80C eligible, subject to the ₹1.5 lakh cap, and only under the old tax regime — the default regime carries no 80C at all.
- You can borrow against it at 1% a year. If you repay within 36 months. If you do not, it jumps to 6%, and the 6% runs from the first day of the month after you took the loan, not from the month you missed.
That last point is the cheapest self-borrowing in personal finance, and almost nobody uses it.
The loan rule most people get wrong
You can borrow 25% of the balance standing at the end of the second preceding year — a backward-looking number, not a percentage of today’s balance. And you can do it from after the end of year two to the end of year five, in practice your third through sixth year.
If you have read anywhere that you can borrow 70% from year six, that is wrong. It is a very common misreading, it is repeated by banks and blogs, and it is not what the scheme says. The rate, the ceiling, the window and what happens to the loan when you die are all in loan against PPF and PMVVY.
PM-SYM: a pension for unorganised-sector workers
Read this section even if you will skip it. The headline figure is worth knowing.
Under this scheme you pay between ₹55 and ₹200 a month depending on your age when you join. The Centre pays an exactly equal amount. When you turn 60 you get ₹3,000 a month, every month, for life. The government’s own matching contribution across the country has run to ₹2,011 crore.
It is open right now. As on 29 July 2026, more than 54 lakh people had enrolled, and a nationwide registration drive is running — Ministry of Labour & Employment, 3 August 2026. You enrol at a Common Service Centre or yourself at maandhan.in.
And it almost certainly is not for you
This is the part worth being honest about, and it is the Ministry of Labour’s own eligibility list. You cannot join if:
- you are an income-tax assessee — which is most salaried professionals and most people who read personal finance sites;
- you are already a member of EPFO, ESIC or NPS (where the Central Government contributes);
- you are outside 18 to 40 years of age;
- your monthly income is above ₹15,000; or
- you are already 60. The pension starts after 60. Joining now pays you nothing for two decades.
So: this is a scheme for a shopkeeper, a farm worker, a construction labourer or a home-based worker earning modest amounts outside the organised sector. If that is not you, the ₹3,000 figure is not available to you, and no article can change that.
The arithmetic of what you pay by age, and whether you qualify, is in the PM-SYM eligibility and contribution calculator.
PMVVY: a legacy matter, not an option
PMVVY is closed to new buyers. LIC’s own PMVVY plan page records Date of Launch 26.05.2020 and Date of Withdrawn 31.03.2023. That is the insurer’s page, not a news report.
If you already hold a PMVVY policy, it is a ten-year commitment running to roughly 2033, and the rules that matter to you are about what happens if you borrow against it or die with the loan unpaid — not about buying, because buying is over. The loan and inheritance mechanics are covered in loan against PPF and PMVVY.
If you do not hold one, this section is the end of PMVVY for you. Nothing further to do.
NPS Vatsalya: a pension for a child, and nothing is guaranteed
This one is for a parent or guardian, not for your own retirement. It is a pension account in a minor’s name, opened and operated by you.
The rules, as notified in the NPS Vatsalya Scheme Guidelines 2025:
- Open to all Indian citizens below 18, including NRI/OCI. The child is the sole beneficiary.
- Minimum ₹250 to open and ₹250 each financial year. No maximum. Relatives and friends can gift contributions.
- Not locked until 60. This is the most common error in the market. The decision point is between 18 and 21.
- At exit: up to 80% of the corpus as a lump sum, with a minimum 20% to be annuitised. Full withdrawal is permitted if the corpus is ₹8 lakh or less.
- Returns are market-linked and not guaranteed. There is no assured minimum monthly pension at any point, at 18 or at 60.
Three wrong numbers are still in circulation for this scheme: a ₹1,000 annual minimum, an 80% annuity requirement, and a ₹2.5 lakh full-exit limit. The 2025 Guidelines say ₹250, a 20% minimum annuity share, and ₹8 lakh for full exit.
The mechanics of what happens at 18 and at 21 — the KYC, the three options, how partial withdrawals before 18 work — are in NPS Vatsalya withdrawal rules at 18 and 21.
80TTB: a deduction on your interest income
This is not an investment. It is a deduction, and for a typical retired person with a modest deposit balance it is worth more than the rate difference between schemes.
If you are 60 or above and a resident individual, you can deduct up to ₹50,000 a year of interest income. If your total interest is ₹50,000 or less, you deduct all of it. This applies to interest from a bank, from a co-operative society in banking, and from a Post Office as defined in section 2(k) of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898.
This deduction is available under the old tax regime only. The default regime — which is what most people are on without choosing — drops 80TTB along with almost every other deduction, keeping only employer and employment-generation ones. The ₹50,000 is unaffected; it simply is not available to you unless you are on the old regime. The same applies to the 80C deduction on SCSS, and it is worth checking which regime you are on before you value anything on this page.
Two of our own pages go deeper on the mechanics: why 80TTB vanishes under the default regime, and whether 80TTB survives a joint SCSS account.
Do the arithmetic that makes this matter:
A senior with ₹10 lakh in SCSS earns ₹82,000 of interest. The TDS threshold for a senior citizen is ₹1 lakh a year, and it applies to post-office deposits as much as to bank ones — so no tax is deducted at source at all. But ₹82,000 is well above the ₹50,000 deduction limit, so the 80TTB claim is worth up to ₹15,000 of tax. The deduction does the work precisely where the TDS threshold does not bite.
One point is genuinely open: no CBDT circular names SCSS specifically, though the statute names a Post Office and SCSS is a post office deposit. That is a gap of explicitness rather than interpretation, so treat it as available — and confirm with your chartered accountant before you claim it.
If TDS was deducted from you anyway, that is worth checking — see the next section.
TDS on SCSS interest: what to do if it was deducted
Here is the practical half of the tax question, and it is the half you can act on.
The threshold is ₹1 lakh a year for a senior citizen, and it covers post-office deposits. From 1 April 2026 the whole regime for TDS on interest was replaced: section 393 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 stands where section 194A used to, and it names post-office deposits under notified schemes with the ₹1,00,000 senior-citizen figure attached to that same line. The declaration form is now Form 121, replacing Forms 15G and 15H.
If tax was taken from you in an earlier year, that is a separate question. The Department of Posts’ own configuration instructions — SB Order No. 37/2021 dated 22.11.2021 — set “no tax” for a 60+ holder who filed Form 15H only where annual interest exceeded ₹50,000 across all their SCSS accounts in a financial year, and deducted at 10% otherwise. A senior citizen who filed the form correctly in one of those years could still have had tax taken.
That order exists because the Department of Posts was receiving representations that TDS had been deducted even after Form 15G/15H was submitted. Its cause was mundane and is worth knowing: deduction runs on what is recorded in the post office’s customer and account records, and a form sitting in a file is not a record in the system.
What to do. A valid Form 15H that never reached the post office’s system is a grievance, not a tax liability — and the two are easy to confuse. HDFC Bank’s own SCSS FAQ puts the stakes plainly: tax exemption applies only “from the day of processing of the request”, and “any TDS deducted before the request processing date will be paid to the IT department and cannot be refunded by the bank.“
That is why timing matters more than most people expect. Raise it in writing with your post office, with the Form on record. Check Form 26AS first for what was actually deducted, and submit Form 121 for the current year rather than assuming last year’s filing carried over.
What nobody tells you about handing the money on
The hardest question in this cluster is not which rate is best. It is who gets the money if you are not there.
Three documents, three different jobs, routinely confused:
- A nomination is a revocable direction to one named person at one institution. It is not a gift and not a transfer, you can cancel it, and it cannot direct anything beyond that balance at that institution.
- A will is the only document that can direct your whole estate.
- A joint account settles nothing about ownership on death. The “either or survivor” clause governs who may operate the account while both of you are alive. Who owns the money afterwards is a separate question, answered by succession law.
Since 1 November 2025, bank deposits follow the RBI’s Nomination Facility Directions, 2025 — you can nominate up to four people, and the nominee receives the money as a trustee of the legal heirs.
At a bank, that nomination is optional. The same Directions tell banks to “offer him/her the option to avail the same”, and say that where the customer declines, the bank “shall proceed to open the deposit account without imposing any restrictions” and that “under no circumstances shall a prospective customer be denied or delayed in opening an account solely on the ground of refusal to make a nomination”.
SCSS is the opposite, and nomination is required when you open the account. Rule 14(1) of the Government Savings Promotion General Rules, 2018 says a depositor “shall nominate one or more individuals but not exceeding four individuals”, and that the nomination “shall be made at the time of opening of the account”. You are not left to remember it later — but you can change your mind: under Rule 14(3) a nomination may be varied by a fresh Form 10 at any time before maturity.
On that form’s “owner or trustee” entry — it is not a free preference: you may record either, but the entry has to match the nominee’s actual legal status. Rule 14(1)(c) requires you to state “whether the nominee shall receive the amount as a beneficiary with absolute and exclusive right of ownership, or as a trustee for the benefit of the legal heirs of depositor”. The entry has to match the nominee’s legal position. As HDFC Bank’s SCSS FAQ puts it: “Under nomination, if the nominee is legal heir, then the nature of entitlement should be mentioned as ‘Owner’, or else should be ‘Trustee’.”
So marking “owner” for someone who is not your legal heir does not match their legal position, and it does not override your estate. Banks record that entry as Trustee — but the Rules themselves do not say what an Owner entry does to the money, so ask your post office in writing before you file the Form 10. Nominate someone who is actually your legal heir.
Nomination vs will vs joint accounts, and what the law actually does.
Start where you actually are
Pick the sentence closest to your situation:
- I have a lump sum and I want monthly income from it → compare SCSS against a bank FD first, then read how to open an SCSS account.
- I might need the money before the term ends → read the real cost of closing SCSS early, including the tax side, before you open anything.
- I want to borrow against my savings → loan against PPF at 1%, and why the 70%-from-year-6 rule is wrong.
- I am leaving money to my family → nomination vs will vs joint accounts.
- I am 55 to 60 and retired, and want in → the three-month window matters. Read the SCSS section above, then how to open the account.
- I pay tax and my interest is being taxed → 80TTB and the TDS threshold is likely worth more to you than any rate difference on this page.
- TDS was taken from my post office interest and I filed the form → 80TTB and the TDS threshold explains the grievance route; do not assume you owe it.
- I want a pension for my grandchild → NPS Vatsalya withdrawal rules at 18 and 21, and note that nothing is guaranteed.
- I work in the unorganised sector and earn under ₹15,000 a month → you may be eligible for the PM-SYM eligibility and contribution calculator, which is open right now.
What this page does not cover
Everything here is sourced: the rates carry their notification and effective date, and the tax positions cite the enacted provision rather than commentary. Two things are deliberately left out rather than carried unverified — the tax-saver FD lock-in terms, which you should confirm with the bank on the day, and any judgement about whether your own circumstances meet a scheme’s eligibility rules. MIS and the Post Office Time Deposit are also outside this page’s scope, because they are a comparison rather than a scheme: on the notified rates either one leads on total interest depending on the tenure, so neither has a standing answer. That comparison is set out, tenure by tenure, on MIS vs Post Office Time Deposit. The one open tax point is flagged in the 80TTB section above.
Risks, plainly
- Rates change. Government rates are reset quarterly; bank rates move on their own cycle. A rate on this page can be out of date the day after you read it. Always check the live notification.
- Market-linked means you can lose money. NPS Vatsalya is not a fixed deposit. A bad decade at 18 is a smaller problem than a bad decade at 58.
- Concentration is real. Putting ₹30 lakh in one bank deposit leaves you six times over the DICG limit. Splitting across banks is not a trick; it is the mechanism.
- Tax rules change and this page can fall behind them. The TDS threshold moved with the Finance Act, 2025. Assume the next one moves too.
- Nothing here is a recommendation. This page maps schemes. It does not know your income, your family, your health or your liabilities, and it does not advise. For a decision this size, talk to a chartered accountant or a SEBI-registered adviser.
Your one action today
Pick one deposit account you already have. Write down three things on paper: the balance, the rate, and the date you can access it without penalty.
Then open this year’s Form 26AS and see what was actually deducted from your interest. It takes ten minutes, and it is the one check that tells you whether the tax you have been assuming is the tax you have been paying.
Frequently asked questions
Which senior citizen scheme pays the highest interest?
It depends on the ceiling, not the rate. SCSS pays the highest headline rate among government small-savings schemes at 8.2% for 1 October to 31 December 2026, but it stops at ₹30 lakh. A senior FD from a large bank pays less — 7.05% at SBI for five to ten years — but has no ceiling. Above ₹30 lakh, or where you may need the money back, the comparison changes.
Is SCSS interest taxable?
Yes, fully, at your income-tax slab. It is not exempt. The one part that can help is the 80TTB deduction of up to ₹50,000 a year for senior citizens — but it is available under the old tax regime only, so on the default regime it gives you nothing. This page covers it above.
Can I borrow against an SCSS account?
No. SCSS does not offer a loan, pledge or partial pledge against an account. If you need money before the term ends, you close the account and pay the penalty. Loans are available against PPF and against PMVVY, which are different products with different rules.
Is PMVVY still open for new investment?
No. LIC’s own plan page for PMVVY Plan No. 856 records the date of withdrawal as 31.03.2023. It is now a matter for existing policyholders only.
Can I open SCSS if I retired before 60?
Yes, in one specific case. If you are 55 or older but under 60 and have retired, you can open an account within three months of receiving your retirement benefits, with an employer certificate, and your deposit is capped at the retirement benefits you received. Retired Defence personnel can open at 50.
Do I need a nomination for an SCSS account?
Yes — the rule requires one when you open the account, up to four people, and you can vary it on a fresh Form 10 at any time before maturity. One point is easy to get wrong: the form asks whether the nominee takes as owner or trustee, and that entry has to match the nominee’s legal position. “Owner” is for a nominee who is a legal heir, and banks record Trustee where they are not; the Rules do not say what an Owner entry does to the money. So nominate someone who is actually your legal heir.
Sources
Nomination
– RBI/2025-26/95, DOR.MCS.REC.59/01.01.003/2025-26, dated 28 October 2025 — Nomination Facility in Deposit Accounts, Safe Deposit Lockers and Articles kept in Safe Custody with the Banks) Directions, 2025. Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 2025 come into force from 1 November 2025. Paragraph 9 (“Option to the customers not to make a nomination”): the bank shall “offer him/her the option to avail the same”; on refusal it “shall proceed to open the deposit account without imposing any restrictions”; and “under no circumstances shall a prospective customer be denied or delayed in opening an account solely on the ground of refusal to make a nomination”. The four-nominee limit (“one or more persons not exceeding four, either successively or simultaneously”) is the substitution made by the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 in s.45ZA(1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949; the nominee-as-trustee wording sits in RBI’s companion Directions on settlement of claims in respect of deceased customers
– Government Savings Promotion General Rules, 2018, G.S.R. 1003(E) 05.10.2018 — Rule 14(1): a depositor “shall nominate one or more individuals… such nomination shall be made at the time of opening of the account” in Form 10, and must state “(c) whether the nominee shall receive the amount as a beneficiary with absolute and exclusive right of ownership, or as a trustee for the benefit of the legal heirs“. Rule 14(3): may be varied by a fresh Form 10 any time before the maturity of the account. Section 4(1) of the Government Savings Promotion Act, 1873 makes the owner-or-trustee election one the depositor is entitled to make. Read at nsiindia.gov.in/InternalPage.aspx?Id_Pk=149
Rates and schemes
– Department of Posts SB Order No. 12/2026 dated 30.09.2026, circulating DEA Office Memorandum No. 1/4/2019-NS dated 30.09.2026 — small savings rates for Q3 FY2026-27 (1 Oct–31 Dec 2026), unchanged
– SCSS 2019, G.S.R. 916(E) 12.12.2019, as amended — G.S.R. 287(E) 05.05.2020, G.S.R. 240(E) 31.03.2023 (₹30 lakh ceiling), G.S.R. 829(E) 07.11.2023 (three-month retirement window, repeat three-year extension blocks)
– Department of Posts SB Order No. 22/2023 dated 14.11.2023, circulating the November 2023 gazette amendments
– PPF Scheme 2019, G.S.R. 915(E) 12.12.2019 — paragraphs 8 (loans), 9 (loan interest, death), 12 (extension)
– SBI retail domestic term deposit rates, w.e.f. 15/12/2025, page last updated 16-06-2026 — senior premium, SBI We-care 50 bps, SBI Patrons 10 bps for 80+
– DICGC deposit insurance, ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank — dicgc.org.in
Pensions
– PIB Release ID 2293891, 03.08.2026 (Ministry of Labour & Employment) — PM-SYM: 54 lakh+ enrolled as on 29.07.2026, ₹3,000 monthly assured pension, 18–40 age band, ₹15,000 income band, EPFO/ESIC/NPS and income-tax-assessee exclusions
– LIC, PMVVY Plan No. 856, UIN 512G336V01 — Date of Launch 26.05.2020, Date of Withdrawn 31.03.2023
– PIB Release ID 2214246, 13.01.2026 — PFRDA NPS Vatsalya Scheme Guidelines 2025: ₹250 minimum, 20% minimum annuitisation, 80% maximum lump sum, full withdrawal at ₹8 lakh or less, options available until 21
Tax
– s.194A(3)(i), Income-tax Act, 1961 — historical position, credits before 1 April 2026. Live page at incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-194a-59; /w/section-194a also resolves and serves the 1961 section as it stood. The path is case-sensitive — /w/section-194A with a capital A does not resolve
– SBI SCSS FAQ — sbi.bank.in/web/faq-s/faq-scss — Q13 nomination at opening, Q14 before closure via Form-10, Q15 variation, citing Rule 14(1) and 14(3)
– HDFC Bank SCSS FAQ — hdfc.bank.in/.../faq-pdf/scss-frequently-asked-questionss.pdf — Q13 TDS under “Section 393 (formerly Section 194A)”; Q14 the “cannot be refunded by the bank” wording; Q31 nomination mandatory at opening; Q33 “if the nominee is legal heir… ‘Owner’, or else should be ‘Trustee’”; Q53 exemption limits (₹12,00,000 at 60+). Cite this filename specifically. The sibling scss-frequently-asked-questions.pdf on the same path is a version of the same document with different question numbering, so question numbers are valid only for the file named — do not carry one across. A third file on the same path, senior-citizens-savings-scheme-faq.pdf, is genuinely stale: it still cites s.194A and Form 15H/G and predates the s.393 change. Do not use it
Department of Posts SB Order No. 37/2021 dated 22.11.2021 — SCSS TDS configuration: ₹50,000 threshold for holders 60 and above, ₹40,000 below 60, and the instruction to update Form 15G/15H into Finacle records
– s.80TTB — ₹50,000 deduction; post office named in s.2(k), Indian Post Office Act, 1898
– s.80C — ₹1,50,000 aggregate cap with 80CCC and 80CCD(1), effective AY 2015-16; SCSS named among qualifying deposits
– s.115BAC(2)(i) of the 1961 Act and its successor s.202 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 — Chapter VI-A deductions unavailable under the default regime, save employer and employment-generation deductions
– s.393(1), Table, Sl. 5(ii) and s.393(6), Table, Sl. 1(e), Income-tax Act, 2025 — payer “(c) a post office for a deposit made under a scheme notified by the Central Government”, threshold “₹1,00,000 in the case of a senior citizen; ₹50,000 in case of person other than senior citizen”. Both /w/section-393-5 and /w/section-393-6 resolve and carry this text, differing only in rendering and completeness; neither is superseded. The 1961 Act was repealed by s.536 from 1 April 2026
Two traps worth knowing, both found the hard way here
A link that resolves is not a link that supports the claim. Every substantive error on this page came from a source that was reachable but wrong: a bank FAQ quoting half a rule, a consolidated scheme page serving superseded text, two same-named PDFs whose answers are numbered differently, and a master direction that never mentioned nominations at all. Check that the document says what the sentence attributes to it — a 200 only tells you a server answered.
A dead-looking URL is usually a filter, not a grave. incometaxindia.gov.in and nsiindia.gov.in return 403 to plain command-line fetches and intermittently time out, while serving normally through a browser-grade client. Verify those by extraction — a shell fetch against this host manufactures false findings indefinitely.
Deliberately not cited: the NPS Trust Vatsalya FAQ PDF on npstrust.org.in, contradicted by the 2025 Guidelines on three points while looking authoritative.
Disclaimer: This article is for education only and is not financial, tax or legal advice. Rates, thresholds and scheme rules change — verify every number against the official notification before acting. Scheme eligibility depends on facts only you and your adviser know. Consult a chartered accountant or a SEBI-registered investment adviser before making any decision.
