In every society, senior citizens are always given the special place and consider them as the head of the family. In India, any people who have attained the age of sixty years or above are considered as senior citizens.
And in order to acknowledge their contributions and help them retiring gracefully, Government of India honours them by offering them wide range of attractive programs and facilities. The ‘Senior Citizen Savings Scheme’ (SCSS) is one of them.
Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) is a government program for the senior citizens (who are above the age of 60 years) to provide them additional retirement benefits while availing day to day cash requirements.
This scheme is considered to be one of the safest investment schemes as it is backed by the government. These schemes are available through banks and post offices which are associated with SCSS. The SCSS account can be elongated for 5 years and upon maturity can be extended for 3 more years. Under this scheme, depositors are permitted to make one deposit into this account.
Senior Citizen Savings Scheme is a well – made, shielded and a highly targeted savings scheme among the senior citizens of India.
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Interest Rates for Senior Citizen Saving Scheme
Below is the table of interest rate for the first quarter of Financial Year 2017 – 18 i.e. April 17 to June 17.
| Investment Option | Rate of Interest for Quarter 1: April 17 to June 17 |
| Senior Citizens Savings Scheme (SCSS) | 8.40% |
Benefits under Senior Citizen Savings Scheme
SCSS is a very beneficial product for senior citizen in India as it offers one of the best interest rate among the other government programs along with customised facilities in order to fulfil every requirement of the senior citizens.
Read below to know some of the benefits of Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS)
- This scheme offers a hassle free processing where an interested applicant have to just fill up an application form at their nearest post office or a local bank along with required documents and initial deposits in order to get the account opened.
- This scheme is the most reliable scheme as it is backed by the government itself; hence it comes with all the protection and assertion associated with the government schemes.
- It offers the option of handling multiple accounts at the same time which could be either operated as singly or jointly with the subscriber’s spouse.
- This scheme is offering a very attractive interest rate which is of 8.6% per annum.
- ‘Senior Citizen Savings Scheme’ encourages senior citizens to save as it is a medium for a long term investment product as this account offers 5 years maturity term period and can be further extended for 3 more years.
- This investment scheme is eligible for a tax rebate of under section 80 C, of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Hence, it is extremely helpful in saving tax.
- This scheme is flexible in investment amount as in this scheme one can invest any amount in multiples of Rs. 1000 up to the maximum cap of 15 lakhs. However, this can be done only once. And the amount plus interest can be directly credited into the depositor’s savings bank account held with the bank branch or to the linked Post Office Savings account.
- The subscribers of this scheme can prematurely withdraw from their SCSS scheme. However they would be subjected to the penalty of 1.5% of the funds till 2nd year of completion and 1 % post 2 years till the 5th year.
- As this scheme is designed for the senior citizens, the process of enrollment has been kept simple and hassle free. The only documents which are required are age – cum ID proof, it could be Passport, Voter’s ID, Birth Certificate, Aadhaar Card, PAN card, Senior Citizens Card etc.
Eligibility Criteria for Senior Citizen Savings Scheme
As the name suggest, this scheme is only for the senior citizens of the country i.e. individuals aged 60 years or above are eligible to subscribe to this scheme.
However, any individual who is not 60 years yet, but have attained 55 years of age and have taken VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme), can also apply for this scheme and the account should be open within 1 month of the receipt of retirement benefits.
At the same time, any retired defence official irrespective of above mentioned age limits are eligible to subscribe to this scheme, however, they are subjected to other terms and conditions.
Hindu Undivided Families (HUF) or Non Resident of India (NRIs) are not eligible for the scheme.
How to Open a SCSS Account
Interested people can open a SCSS account by visiting a local bank or by visiting nearest post office
Opening a SCSS account by visiting Post Office
As we know Indian Postal System still has a reach in the remotest India. Hence most of the government sponsored schemes are available in Indian Post Office. The SCSS is hence also offered at all the Post Offices of India. And this scheme has indeed flourished at post offices as the non – urbanized population can also easily access to this scheme at the post office
There is a selected public / private sector bank which offers SCSS account. The reason this scheme is offered through a bank as well because banks today facilitates people with round the clock service and they have branches in most of the rural areas.
Read below to know the list of banks which offers SCSS account:
- Allahabad Bank
- Andhra bank
- State Bank of India
- State Bank of Mysore
- State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur
- State Bank of Patiala
- State Bank of Travancore
- State Bank of Hyderabad
- Bank of Maharashtra
- Bank of Baroda
- Bank of India
- Corporation Bank
- Canara Bank
- Central Bank of India
- Dena Bank
- Syndicate Bank
- UCO Bank
- Union Bank of India
- Vijaya Bank
- IDBI Bank
- Indian Bank
- Indian Overseas Bank
- Punjab National Bank
- United Bank of India
FAQs