Mahila Samman Savings Certificate (MSSC) Scheme

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About Mahila Samman Savings Certificate (MSSC) Scheme:

This is a one-time scheme announced in Budget 2023 and will remain available for a two-year period, i.e., up to March 2025.
It is a risk-free scheme dedicated towards women’s and girls’ of all age groups.
The scheme offers a maximum deposit facility of up to Rs 2 lakhin the name of women or girls for a tenor of 2 years.
Benefit: It will encourage more women to adopt formal financial saving instruments.
Features:
- Eligibility:
  - Any individual women.
  - The minor account can also be opened by the guardian.
- Investment:
  - The deposit amount under this scheme is limited.
  - A minimum of Rs. 1000 and any sum in multiples of one hundred rupees may be deposited in an account subject to a maximum of Rs. 2 lakhs.
- Interest Rate: It offers a fixed interest rate of 7.5 percent. Interest shall be compounded on a quarterly basis and credited to the account.
- The Maturity period/Lock-in period of the scheme is 2 years from the date of opening of the account.
  - However, the account holder can withdraw up to 40% of the account balance after one year from the account opening date as a partial withdrawal.
- There is a provision of multiple account opening under this scheme with a condition that a woman can open a second MSSC account after a minimum gap of three months from the opening of the existing account.
  - However, the total deposit, including all the accounts, should not exceed Rs 2 lakh.
- There are no tax benefits.

Q1: What is Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana?

SSY is a savings scheme launched in 2015 under the Government of India’s ” Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” campaign, which aims 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 minimum and maximum deposits that can be made in an account in a financial year are Rs.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.

Source: Centre unlikely to extend Mahila Samman Savings Certificate scheme