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Coronavirus spread and the lockdown have impacted the process flow of the government programmes and schemes. One such programme is Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY). The government has provided relaxation to age norms for opening an SSY account, and the Post Office has issued the latest guidelines regarding the same.
The guidelines state that the account can be opened in the name of a girl child on or before 31 July 2020 for those girl children who have attained the age of 10 years during the nationwide lockdown period, i.e. from 25 March 2020 to 30 June 2020.
This relaxation towards the entry into the scheme benefits parents/guardians of girl children, who could not open accounts under SSY due to the lockdown. Usually, an SSY account can only be opened only up to the age of 10 years from the date of birth.
Generally, an investment of a maximum of Rs.1.5 lakh can be made in the SSY account per financial year. There is no restriction on the number of deposits made in the account over a fiscal year—a single lump-sum payment, monthly payments, or multiple deposits in a month are all allowed.
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Currently, an interest rate of 7.6% p.a. applies to the deposits made in SSY accounts, which is the highest among the small savings accounts.
Speaking of the other norms applicable, a person can open an SSY account only after adhering to the eligible age as the primary factor. Also, only one SSY account can be opened in the name of one girl child. A maximum of two accounts is allowed in the name of two different girl children per family.
One can make deposits in an SSY account over 15 years from the date of opening the account. The girl can partially withdraw funds from the account balance once she attains the age of 18 years for marriage or higher education. She can also choose to close the account upon reaching the age of 21 years.
Subscribers can choose to deposit funds online to their SSY accounts through intra-operable net banking and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) savings account.
For any clarifications/feedback on the topic, please contact the writer at apoorva.n@cleartax.in
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