Govt. announces interest rate cut on small saving schemes by 0.1 pct

The Centre on Friday announced a slash in interest rates for small savings schemes, including Public Provident Fund, by 0.1 percent in effect from April 1.

Interest rates on all nine small savings schemes will be lower by 0.1 percent. Interest rates are reviewed quarterly and the new rates are effective from April 1 to June 30.

The PPF investments will now have an annual interest rate of 7.9 percent.

However, the government revised rates for various other schemes including a 7.6 percent for the Kisan Vikas Patra scheme, 8.4 percent for the senior citizen's five-year savings scheme and 8.4 percent for the girl child savings Sukanya Samriddhi Account scheme.

Also, the interest on savings deposits has been retained at four percent annually.

An overall drop in interest rates in the financial system led to the 0.1 percent cut. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation had earlier lowered the interest on provident fund deposits for the 2016-'17 financial year to 8.65 percent from 8.8 percent.