Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) is a government scheme that encourages girl children to save for their future. Under this scheme, parents or legal guardians can open an account in their daughter’s name and deposit a minimum of ₹250 and a maximum of ₹1.5 lakh per year. This scheme is currently offering an annual interest rate of 7.6%.
SSY account has been open for 21 years. To open an account, the girl child should be less than ten years of age. The account holder can open one or more accounts in their daughter’s name.
An essential update for SSY account holders:
By next month (March 2024) all SSY account holders will have to link their account with Aadhaar. If the account holder does not, his account will be closed.
To link SSY account to Aadhaar:
You can visit your bank or post office branch where you opened the account.
It has to fill out an Aadhaar linking form and submit a copy of your Aadhaar card.
You can also link your account with Aadhaar through the bank’s website or post office.
Benefits of linking SSY account to Aadhaar:
This makes your account more secure.
It provides you the ease of carrying out transactions in your account.
It helps you avail government benefits.
In March 2024, account holders of SSY are required to link their accounts with Aadhaar.
Failure to do so will result in the closure of your account, and you will not be able to avail the benefits of the scheme.
Other essential points for SSY account holders:
You can make a partial withdrawal from the account after your daughter turns 18 years of age.
When your daughter turns 21 or gets married (whichever occurs earlier), the entire amount can be withdrawn from the account.
If you close the account before your daughter turns 18, you will not receive interest on the amount deposited.
SSY is a grand scheme that helps girls save for their future. If you have a daughter, you should open an SSY account for her today.
What is the minimum balance?
It is necessary to deposit a minimum balance within a financial year in Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana. If you do not do this, the account gets frozen, and you do not get the tax benefit.
If you, too, have not deposited anything in the Sukanya account in the financial year 2023-24, you should deposit the minimum amount in the account as soon as possible.
In the Sukanya Samriddhi Account, you must deposit a minimum of Rs 250 in a financial year. You can deposit a maximum of Rs 1.50 lakh in a year.
Failure to deposit the minimum balance will result in the account being frozen, and a fine of Rs 50 will be required to restart the account.
You must pay the minimum amount to activate the account along with this penalty. The account will be activated when the acceptable and minimum amount is deposited.
Apart from this, the government has also made Know Your Customer (KYC) mandatory. If you still need to do KYC, you should complete this work as soon as possible.