INTEREST RATES ON SMALL SAVINGS SCHEMES UNCHANGED FOR SEPTEMBER QTR

New Delhi, June 30: The government on Thursday kept interest rates unchanged on small savings schemes, including NSC and PPF, for the second quarter of 2022-23 amid high inflation and rising interest rates. The interest rates on small savings schemes have not been revised since the first quarter of 2020-21.

Public Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificate (NSC) will continue to have an annual interest rate of 7.1 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively, in the second quarter of this fiscal.

"The rates of interest on various small savings schemes for the second quarter of the financial year 2022-23, starting from July 1, 2022, and ending on September 30, 2022, shall remain unchanged from those notified for the first quarter (April 1, 2022, to June 30, 2022) for FY 2022-23," the finance ministry said in a notification.

Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified on a quarterly basis.

The one-year term deposit scheme will continue to earn an interest rate of 5.5 per cent in the second quarter.

It is to be noted that the country's biggest lender State Bank of India (SBI) raised interest rate on one-year fixed deposit 5.10 per cent following two consecutive increase made by the RBI in benchmark rate by the 90 basis points to tame high inflation.

The Reserve Bank of India raised repo rate by 40 basis points and 50 basis points in May and June, respectively.

Retail inflation stood at 7.04 per cent in May and remained above the RBI's tolerance level of 6 per cent for the fifth month in a row.

The interest rate on the five-year senior citizens' savings scheme will be retained at 7.4 per cent. The interest on the senior citizens' scheme is paid on a quarterly basis.

The girl child savings scheme Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana will fetch 7.6 per cent.