Overview

• The finance ministry kept SCSS at 8.2%, NSC at 7.7% and five-year post office time deposits at 7.5% for the July–September quarter, preserving yields against bank FD reductions.
• Following the RBI’s 100 basis point repo rate cut since February, major banks have trimmed senior citizen FD rates to between 6.3% and 7.75%.
• Bank FDs offer tenures from seven days to ten years with no upper investment cap and carry DICGC insurance up to ₹5 lakh per depositor, unlike sovereign-backed small savings schemes.
• SCSS provides a fixed 8.2% rate over a five-year term extendable by three years, a ₹30 lakh investment limit and quarterly interest payouts.
• Both SCSS and five-year tax-saving FDs qualify for Section 80C deductions up to ₹1.5 lakh, with interest income fully taxable.