Small Savings Scheme Rates

Those rankings are misleading on their own. PPF is tax-free and SCSS interest is fully taxable. In the 30% bracket, PPF’s 7.1% beats SCSS’s 8.2% after tax. Read the taxation column before the rate column.

Rates below are from the Ministry of Finance quarterly notification, for July to September 2026, that is Q2 of FY 2026-27. Confidence: verified.

What are the current small savings rates?

Sukanya Samriddhi, SCSS, NSC and PPF also qualify for deduction under Section 80C in the old tax regime, within the overall ₹1,50,000 limit.

Why does the spread between these schemes exist?

These rates are administered, not set by a market. The Ministry of Finance resets them each quarter. They are benchmarked to yields on government securities of comparable maturity, with a spread on top for some schemes.

The spreads are policy choices, not credit risk. Every scheme here carries the same sovereign backing. Sukanya Samriddhi and SCSS get the highest rate because the government is subsidising two groups it wants to support: girl children and retirees. PPF gets the lowest headline because it also gets the best tax treatment.

So the spread tells you about political priorities, not about risk. Never treat the 1.1 percentage point gap between SSY and PPF as compensation for anything.

Which of these rates float and which lock?

This is the most common misreading of the table and it changes what you should buy.

PPF and Sukanya Samriddhi are floating. The rate announced each quarter applies to your whole balance for that quarter. If rates are cut next year, your existing PPF balance earns the lower rate. There is nothing to lock in.

NSC, KVP, SCSS and POMIS lock the rate at the time you invest, for the full term of that certificate or account. Buy an NSC today and it earns 7.7% for its five years whatever happens to the quarterly notification afterwards.

The practical rule follows directly. When you expect rates to fall, lock in with the fixed-rate schemes. When you expect them to rise, the floating schemes reprice for you. Rates have held steady across several consecutive quarters, so neither view is obviously right today.

How current is this page, and when does it change?

The Ministry of Finance issues the notification near the end of each quarter, for the quarter starting. So the next revision applies from 1 October 2026. We refresh this page against the notification, not against news reports of it.

If the date at the top of this section is more than a quarter old, check the Ministry’s own notification before acting. The scheme pages linked below carry the same as-of stamp.

Which scheme suits which reader?

For a daughter under ten, Sukanya Samriddhi is hard to beat. It pays the joint-highest rate and it is tax-free at every stage. That combination does not exist anywhere else. See Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.

For a retiree wanting income, SCSS pays quarterly and is capped at ₹30,00,000. The interest is fully taxable and TDS applies above ₹1,00,000 of interest. See Senior Citizen Savings Scheme.

For long-horizon tax-free compounding, PPF remains the base of most Indian portfolios despite the lowest headline rate. For a five-year lock with an 80C benefit on reinvested interest, see NSC. For a fixed monthly payout, Post Office MIS. Kisan Vikas Patra has no tax benefit at all and is the weakest of the six for most people.