Priyanka Sambhav
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna (SSY) is a small saving scheme for the financial safety of the girl child. It was launched in January 2015, to encourage parents of the girl child to start with specific saving for her financial security and future expenses. The parents or the legal guardian of a girl aged up to 10 years can open SSY account in the post office or banks.
Age Criteria & Eligibility
The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna account is a part of the GOI’s “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojna” to benefit girl child. Parents or legal guardian can open SSY Account for minor girls aged up to 10 years. Guardians are allowed to open a maximum of two accounts in the name of two daughters. A third account is permitted in case of the birth of twin girls in the second birth, or triplet girls in the first birth. For documentation, a birth certificate is mandatory.
Where will you open SSY account?
The SSY account can be opened in the post office and government authorized public & private sector banks. Apart from the girl child’s birth certificate, you will be required to complete the KYC procedure with Aadhar card, passport etc.
Minimum and Maximum Contribution
A minimum of Rs 250 is sufficient to open the account and also to keep it activated. In a financial year, the parent must deposit at least Rs 250 to keep the SSY account activated. If the account is deactivated then it can be revived only after paying a penalty of Rs 50. The maximum deposit that a parent can make in a year is Rs 1.5 lakh.
Rate of Interest
The government decides the interest of SSY account based on government bond yield. Interest on SSY account is revised quarterly and compounded annually. From April 2020 till December 2020, the interest rate on SSY has been 7.6%.
Maturity
The tenure of SSY account is till the time daughter turns 21 years of age or upon her marriage after the age of 18 years. But parents/guardian have to contribute till 15 years only, after that contribution stops but the account still earns interest until maturity.
Partial Withdrawal & Premature Closure
The girl, after she reaches the age of 18 years, is allowed to withdraw 50% of the invested amount for higher education only. The account can be closed only in the event of the untimely death of the account holder(girl child) or due to some terminal illness. The SSY account will be closed if the girl child becomes an NRI.
Tax Benefit
SSY investment gives you a exempt-exemt-exempt (EEE) benefit. The deposit, the interest and the maturity amount all of the are tax-free. Parents get to claim the section 80C deduction of income tax act on the invested amount which cant exceed Rs 1.5 lakh in a year. On maturity, the entire amount is tax-free.
Withdrawal upon reaching Maturity
The corpus will be withdrawn by the girl. The document that is required at the time of withdrawal are-
-Application form
– ID proof and address proof
-Citizenship document
