Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana : Changes
The government recently made changes to the rules of the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, which are planned to come into force from the 1st of October 2024.
New Rules:
- In case of accounts opened under the guardianship of grandparents (who are other than legal guardians), the guardianship shall be transferred to a person entitled under the law in force, that is, to the natural guardian (alive parents) or Legal Guardian. If it is not done, the account will be closed and this will be a permanent closure.
- Families with more than two SSY accounts will face closures of excess accounts, deemed to be in violation of scheme rules.
SSY :
- It is a savings scheme launched in 2015 under the Government of India’s ” Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” campaign, which aimed to promote the education of girl children.
- SSY is a small-deposit scheme tailored specifically for the girl child.
- This scheme enables guardians to open a savings account for their girl child with an authorised commercial bank or India Post branch.
- The girl must be an Indian resident.
- The account can be initiated by the parent or legal guardian of the girl child.
- The girl child must be below the age of 10at the time of opening the account.
- Only one SSY account is allowed per girl child.
- A family is limited to opening a maximum of two SSY scheme accounts.
- NRIs are not eligible to open these accounts.
- The girl must operate the account once she attains the age of 18 years.
- The minimum and maximum deposits that can be made in an account in a financial year are 250 and Rs.1.5 lakh, respectively. The deposits can be made in multiples of 100.
- Deposits towards the scheme should be made for a period of 15 years. However, the scheme matures after 21 years.
- No interest will be payable once the account completes twenty-one years from the date of opening.
- Withdrawal up to a maximum of 50%of the amount in the account at the end of the financial year preceding the year of application for withdrawal shall be allowed for the purpose of education of the account holder.
- Such withdrawal shall be allowed only after the account holder has attained the age of 18 years or has passed the 10th standard, whichever is earlier.
