The Finance Ministry has declared that the interest rate for the General Provident Fund (GPF) and other similar funds will be set at 7.1% for the third quarter from October 1 to December 31, 2024.
The GPF rate remained unchanged since January-March 2020, when it stood at 7.9%. So, the GPF rate has not been changed for the last 10 quarters.
This rate, effective from October 1, will apply to several funds, including:
General Provident Fund (Central Services)
Contributory Provident Fund (India)
All India Services Provident Fund
State Railway Provident Fund
General Provident Fund (Defence Services)
Indian Ordnance Department Provident Fund
Indian Ordnance Factories Workmen’s Provident Fund
Indian Naval Dockyard Workmen’s Provident Fund
Defence Services Officers Provident Fund
Armed Forces Personnel Provident Fund
Also read: Public Provident Fund: How much corpus can Rs 12,500 monthly investment in PPF make over 15 years?
The finance ministry has recently announced the interest rates on small savings schemes for the third quarter of FY2024-25. The rates were kept unchanged again maintaining status quo for the third consecutive quarter.
For the October – December 2024 quarter, the interest rates on small savings schemes are as follows:
1.Post Office Savings Account – 4% per annum;
2.Post Office Time Deposit Account (TD) (Compounded Quarterly):
i. One-year – 6.9% p.a.
ii. Two-year – 7.0% p.a.
iii. Three-year – 7.1% p.a.
iv. Five-year – 7.5% p.a.
3.Post Office Monthly Income Scheme Account (MIS) – 7.4% per annum payable monthly
4.Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) – 8.2% p.a. (Compounded Quarterly)
5.15-year Public Provident Fund Account (PPF) – 7.1% p.a. (Compounded annually)
6.National Savings Certificates (NSC) – 7.7% p.a. (Compounded annually)
7.Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) – 7.5% p.a. (Compounded annually)
8.Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts – 8.2% p.a. (Compounded annually)
Three benefits of investing in a small savings schemes:
1) Small savings schemes are government-backed so you can be assured of fixed returns and safety of your investments.
2) Many of these small savings schemes qualify for income tax benefits of up to Rs 1.5 lakh under the Section 80C of the Income Tax ACT.
3) These small saving schemes help you diversify your portfolio.