Government Maintains Small Savings Scheme Rates for Q3 2025

The Finance Ministry has announced that interest rates for various small savings schemes will remain unchanged for the third quarter of FY 2025-26, from October 1 to December 31, 2025. This decision marks the seventh consecutive quarter without any adjustments. The notification confirmed that the rates will stay the same as those set for the previous quarter, which ran from July 1 to September 30, 2025.

The key interest rates for small savings schemes are as follows: - **Public Provident Fund (PPF)**: 7.1% - **Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS)**: 8.2% - **Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY)**: 8.2% - **National Savings Certificate (NSC)**: 7.7% - **Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (POMIS)**: 7.4% - **Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP)**: 7.5%

For fixed deposits, the rates are as follows: - **1-year FD**: 6.9% - **2-year FD**: 7.0% - **3-year FD**: 7.1% - **5-year FD**: 7.5% - **5-year Recurring Deposit (RD)**: 6.7%

These small savings schemes are designed to encourage savings among individuals, particularly those with low to moderate incomes. They are considered safe investments and are available through banks and post office branches. The government reviews these rates quarterly, and they are influenced by trends in the secondary market for government securities.

The last significant changes to these rates occurred in the fourth quarter of 2023-24. The government follows a framework established by the Shyamala Gopinath Committee, which links the returns on small savings instruments to the yields of comparable Central Government Securities, with an additional margin. This ensures that the rates reflect market conditions while promoting savings among the population.