Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana Account is the latest launch in the small deposit scheme segment by Govt. of India. With this launch people started showing huge response and want to know more about this Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme. The scheme has launched with many key features but there is not much clarity over few benefits or clauses. In this article I will try to share those 17 points which will answer almost all possible query regarding this Sukanya Samriddhi Account. This scheme will see a hue success in coming days as this is the major highlight of Beti Bachao Beti padhao campaign
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| Snapshot of Sukanya Samriddhi Calculator |
1. Girl’s Age limit: Sukanya Samriddhi Account can be opened by a legal guardian or by parents of the girl child by visiting nearest post office or selected bank branches. The girl child age can be maximum 10 years old while opening SSA account. As this is the starting year, Govt is providing a grace period of 1 year till December 2015. Any girl child born between 2 December 2003 and 1 December 2004 can open account up to till 1 December 2015. This rule is just for this year only, it will not continue further. So till 2015 year end girl child age could be accepted even if 11 years, but there after the standard max age to open Sukanya Samriddhi Account is 10 years.
2. Who can open SSA : Only the parents or the legal guardian of the girl child can open SSA account. One can’t open SSA account for his/her sisters or brothers daughter’s account. In case you want to open this account for your sister in absentee of your father in your family you can open. There could be many such cases which is not at all clear as per Govt. notification.
3. No of Accounts: The no of account can be opened in the name of max 2 girl child only. If 1st or 2nd birth gave twins then it can be opened for all 3 girls. From a family only one account is possible in the name of girl child. It is not like mother and father can open 2 accounts in the name of a same girl child.
Where to open Sukanya Samriddhi Account : One can easily open this account by visiting nearest post-office where deposit account opening facility is available. You can check out the sample form that you have to fill up in post office. On submit of the form with valid documents you will receive a passbook like our savings account passbook. Besides post office one can open SSY account in banks also. But all banks are not allowed to facilitate this scheme. The List of Bank for Sukanya Samriddhi Account is given below:-
1. State Bank of India (SBI)
2. State Bank of Patiala (SBP)
3. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ)
4. State Bank of Travancore (SBT)
5. State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH)
6. State Bank of Mysore (SBM)
7. Allahabad Bank
8. Andhra Bank
9. Axis Bank
10. Bank of Baroda (BoB)
11. Bank of India (BoI)
12. Bank of Maharashtra (BoM)
13. Canara Bank
14. Central Bank of India (CBI)
15. Corporation Bank
16. Dena Bank
17. ICICI Bank
18. IDBI Bank
19. Indian Bank
20. Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)
21. Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC)
22. Punjab National Bank (PNB)
23. Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB)
24. Syndicate Bank
25. UCO Bank
26. Union Bank of India
27. United Bank of India
28. Vijaya Bank
Also all Post offices in India are authorized to open account under Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana
4. Documents require opening SSY account: To open Sukanya Samriddhi Account you have to provide birth certificate of your kid, 2 passport photo graph, photo id of parent or guardian opening the account and address proof. Now for a new born child in many cases name is not updated. In that case I think we can open the account in the name of baby of XXXX like this. Or it is better to wait till the birth certificate is updated with your baby name. If anyone has the answer of this query please share.
5. Interest rate of SSYAccount: Interest rate of this account will be changing every year. For this year it has fixed to 9.1% which is the maximum for any small deposit scheme. PPF account has 8.7% this year.
6. Deposit rules: Many people are asking how much I can deposit in Sukanya Samriddhi Account? Can I deposit monthly basis or yearly basis? I will clear this confusion here. The minimum amount one have to deposit to continue this account is Rs 1000 only and maximum 1.5 lakh. Now one can deposit from rs 1000 – 1.5 lakh any amount in any month in a year. There is no such restriction, but don’t forget the min and max limit.
7. Deposit term : One can deposit under this scheme up to 14 years from the date of account opening only. Means if your child’s age is 5 years now, you can deposit money till 19th year of her age. After that no further deposit will be allowed.
8. Maturity: The Sukanya Samriddhi Account will mature after 21 years from the date of opening. E.g. in the previous example the maturity year will be 26th year of your kid’s age. But there is one more clause regarding marriage. In case your daughter gets married before 26 years, then the account will be closed on that year itself. So, the maturity period of this account will be 21 years or the marriage year which one is earlier. You can download the SSA excel calculator and play with it to get some idea about returns after 18 years or 21 years.
9. Pre-mature withdrawal: One can withdraw 50% of the amount accumulated till 18th year of the girl child. The purpose of withdraw here is education expense. So till 18 years whatever amounts accumulate in your Sukanya Samriddhi Account, you can withdraw 50% of that and utilise for your girls education. Rest amount will stay there and earn compound interest till maturity. So before maturity there is only one option provided for a partial withdrawal.
10. Enjoy interest from 14 – 21 years without deposit: As the deposit period for this account is limited till 14 years, one can enjoy compounding yearly interest on the accumulated money from 14-21 years.
11. Penalty: In case you forget to deposit the minimum amount of rs 1000 in your Sukanya Samriddhi Account then your account will be discontinued. But nothing to worry, you can pay a penalty of Rs 50 only and again activate the account. The account will continue from where it has stopped operating.
12. Transfer: The account can be transferred to any part of country with the girl moving that city. But whether it is possible to transfer Sukanya Samriddhi Account from post office to any bank is not at all clear now. Although this is too early to expect as such queries.
13. SSA is EEE scheme now: After budget 2015, Sukanya Samriddhi Account has been income tax exempted 100%. Earlier while launched first time, the interest earned on this account was taxable. But later on it was decided to make the earning and maturity tax free similar to PPF account. But both parents can’t claim the contribution toward this account under section 80C.
14. In case of death: In case of death of depositor the account should be closed immediately. Again if the girl child dies unfortunately, then also account has to be closed. In such case the amount accumulated till the previous month of death will be returned to the nominee declared while opening SSA account or the girl child.
15. Rules for NRI : So far there is no scope for NRIs (Non Resident Indian) to open SSY account. Govt has to clear about this in future notifications.
16. PPF and SSA combination to make wealth: Can I invest in both PPF and Sukanya Samriddhi Account? The answer is yes. As both the schemes are declared EEE scheme, one can utilize both the savings option to make huge wealth for future, if you are satisfied with the guaranteed return. Although in longer term equity way may be best, but if you don’t like to taste the equity return then these combination would be perfect.
