Overview
- The Finance Ministry notified on September 30 that rates set for July–September will continue from October 1 to December 31, 2025.
- Key returns stay at PPF 7.1%, NSC 7.7%, SSY 8.2%, SCSS 8.2%, POMIS 7.4%, KVP 7.5% with 115-month maturity, and savings deposit 4%.
- Rates are officially guided by the Shyamala Gopinath Committee approach tying schemes to comparable G-Sec yields with a 25 bps margin, though application is not always strict.
- The hold comes after three RBI repo cuts in 2025 totaling 100 bps and subsequent reductions in bank fixed deposit rates that had fueled expectations of lower small-savings rates.
- Coverage notes differing counts on the streak of no changes, with reports citing either the sixth or seventh consecutive quarter since the last tweaks in January–March 2024.