The government has recently made some important changes in the rules for small savings accounts. Through the new rules, old accounts and accounts in the name of grandparents are to be regularized. The government's changes will affect NRI i.e. Non-Resident Indian account holders and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) accounts.
PPF accounts will be affected
NRIs having Public Provident Fund (PPF) accounts are getting interest at the Post Office Savings Account (POSA) interest rate. This interest rate will remain applicable till 30 September 2024. But from 1 October 2024, the interest rate on these accounts will be reduced to 0%. This means that if NRI account holders do not update their PPF account as per the rules, they will not get any kind of interest. To avoid this change, NRI account holders are advised to update their account information on time.
New rules for PPF accounts
According to the new guidelines, POSA interest rate will be applicable on PPF accounts opened in the name of minors till the child turns 18 years old. After the age of 18, the standard PPF interest rate will be applicable and the maturity of the account will be calculated from that time. Apart from this, if someone has more than one PPF account, the interest rate of the scheme will be applicable only on the primary account. Whereas, the amount deposited in other accounts will be transferred to the primary account. 0% interest will be given on the additional amount.
Impact on Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY)
New rules will also be applicable on Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana. Now those accounts which were opened by grandparents without the name of parents will have to be transferred to the name of legal guardians or natural parents. The purpose of this step is to ensure transparency and proper monitoring of the accounts. So that any kind of irregularities can be avoided in future.
