This year’s budget stands on 7 pillars, one of the pillars is ‘inclusive development’ in which finance minister Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman took some significant steps on the road to women’s empowerment one such step mentioned by our finance minister this year’s budget 2023 -2024 is MAHILA SAMMAN SAVING CERTIFICATE SCHEME.
What is Mahila Samman Saving Certificate scheme?
Mahila Samman Saving Certificate is a small savings scheme to benefit female citizens (women and girls) of India.
Like a fixed deposit scheme this scheme allows you to deposit a maximum of 2 lakh rupees for a fixed tenure of 2 years till 2025 and you will get a fixed interest of 7.5% on your deposit, Finance minister also mentioned that this scheme comes with the partial withdrawal option.
About the Scheme
Mahila Samman Saving Certificate comes with a locking period of two years which means that your money is invested for a maximum of 2 years period, there is an option of partial withdrawal in this scheme which means you can withdraw a part of the money from your deposited amount if required at any time during these 2 years without any penalty or giving any sort of charges but you cannot withdraw the whole deposited amount before the maturity tenure that is 2 years.
Eligibility
The only eligibility of this small savings scheme is that the person should be a female citizen of India of age more than 10 years.
Although the joining procedure of the scheme is not mentioned by the government, the scheme is only announced in the budget speech by our finance minister, and this scheme is yet to be opened to the public.
Benefits of the Mahila Samman Saving Certificate Scheme
- The first benefit of this small savings scheme is that this is a government-backed scheme which means that your money is safe as the Indian government is the guarantor.
- This provides the best-in-market interest which is 7.5% for the deposited amount for such a short tenure which makes it better than various small savings schemes already present in the market like FD
- Another good feature of the scheme is that this is a short-tenure scheme which is 2 years, this is another feature that makes it stand out from the various schemes as the tenure is very long in other schemes.
- After investing the money in this scheme the female citizen who opted for the old tax regime can take benefit of the deduction which comes under section 80c of the income tax act.
- one of the best benefits this scheme provides you is the facility of partial deduction which means whenever required you can withdraw the partial amount of the total deposited amount without paying any charge or penalty.
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The finance minister in the latest budget speech mentioned that this small saving scheme is similar to the FD but with a better rate of interest 7.5%, this is a one-time scheme and only valid till 2025. and you can deposit a minimum of as low as rs 100 and a maximum of 2 lakh rupees.
This scheme is not yet released to be used by the general public and only gets notified of the budget, so there are no details available that how you can avail of the benefits of this scheme,
But from past experience, we can tell that one can avail of this small savings scheme through the post office or public sector bank backed by the government.
Also, read about Union Budget 2023-24; Key Highlights
Mahila Samman Saving Certificate Scheme is introduced to empower women and it is a great initiative by the government to provide a platform for women to involve economically in the growth of the country and to be a part of financial inclusion while availing all the benefits provided by the government under its scheme
The Mahila Samman Saving Certificate Scheme is backed by the government so the money deposited under this scheme is safe, secondly, the interest rate which you get for such a short tenure which is 2 years will be the best in the market 7.5%. Only the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana provides slightly better than the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate Scheme which is 7.6%, but the eligibility criteria are the key that makes it better than the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.
As mentioned by the finance minister in the budget speech that this is a one-time speech only for women and girl children, and the validity of the scheme is 2025. So for now it is clear that you cannot avail the benefits of this scheme after 2025.
It is not mentioned by the government how many accounts a can person open under this scheme, But at first look, it seems that government will not allow a person with more than one account under this scheme.
