Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana scheme is one of the finest saving schemes in India, aimed at providing financial security for a girl child through a special savings account. It is a deposit scheme for a girl child that has been introduced under the umbrella of government’s ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign. This scheme has been specially designed for enabling parents to save for their girl child’s marriage or high education. The deposit scheme is a minimum of Rs. 1000 up to a maximum amount of Rs. 150000 during the on-going fiscal year.
This scheme was launched in 2015 and is running successfully till date. Let’s take a look at the features and details of Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana scheme.
What is Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana?
This scheme has gained a lot of popularity amongst the Indian government savings scheme bracket. It was launched by the honorable Indian Prime Minister, Shri. Narendra Modi. This scheme is specially focused on providing financial assistance to the parents of a girl child, and hence, this scheme is available for all such parents. The amount as saved under this scheme aims at providing higher education and to bear the wedding expenses of the girl child.
The account can be opened in the name of a girl child right from her birth till she attains the age of ten years. The depositor can open and operate only one account at a time under the name of same girl child. The guardian or the depositors can only two Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana accounts. However, there’s also an exception where the legal guardians can open two or three accounts in the case of birth of twin girls or if the second child is born as a girl, or triplets in the first place itself.
How to open an account under Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana?
The account can be opened by the parents or guardians of a girl child in any post office or any branch of a commercial bank that is authorized by the Central Government under this scheme. Some of the banks that you can visit for opening this account include – State Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Andhra Bank, UCO Bank and Allahabad Bank. Parents can deposit in this scheme in the form of cash, cheque or a demand draft. In case of the deposits made by cheque or a demand draft, the date of encashment needs
to be the same as the date of credit to the account.
Revised rules for Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana
Earlier, in order to open this account, the minimum amount to be deposited was Rs. 1000. But as the revised rules, the minimum amount required to open this account has been reduced to Rs. 250 only. The amount has been reduced in order to let more and more people become a part of this facility. The decision has been
taken basis the response to the scheme so far. Moreover, the interest rate for the July-September quarter would be 8.1%.
Withdrawal facility
With respect to the rules relating to withdrawal or closure of this account, the withdrawal can only be made once the girl child has attained the age of 18 years. Once she attains the age of 18, she can withdraw 50% of the amount in the
account for either the purpose of her higher education or marriage. The account reaches maturity after 21 years from the date of account opening and hence the total amount can be withdrawn only during that time. Moreover, the withdrawals can only be made for accounts that have been deposited in for 14 years.