Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana is a small-savings scheme launched in January 2015 under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign. It lets a parent or legal guardian open a dedicated savings account for a girl child, offering one of the highest interest rates among government-backed instruments and full tax exemption on maturity.
Eligibility and rules
- The account can be opened for a girl child below 10 years of age.
- Only one account per girl child; maximum two accounts per family (exception for twins/triplets).
- Minimum annual deposit: Rs 250. Maximum: Rs 1.5 lakh per financial year.
- Deposit period: first 15 years from the date of opening. The account continues to earn interest for the remaining 6 years even without deposits.
- Maturity: 21 years from the date of opening, or on the marriage of the girl after she turns 18, whichever is earlier.
Interest rate
The rate is notified quarterly by the Ministry of Finance, like PPF. It has historically been among the highest of all small-savings schemes, hovering around 8.0-8.2% in recent years. Because it is reset quarterly, treat published figures as current rather than permanent.
Tax treatment: EEE
Like PPF, Sukanya Samriddhi enjoys Exempt-Exempt-Exempt status: - Deposit: qualifies for Section 80C deduction up to Rs 1.5 lakh per year under the old regime. - Interest: not taxable during the holding period. - Maturity: the entire withdrawal is tax-free.
This triple exemption, combined with a higher rate than PPF, makes SSY one of the most tax-efficient long-term instruments in India.
Partial withdrawal
From the year the girl turns 18, or after she passes the 10th standard, a partial withdrawal of up to 50% of the balance at the end of the preceding financial year is allowed for higher education expenses. Only one withdrawal is permitted for this purpose.
Premature closure
Premature closure is allowed in limited circumstances: - Death of the account holder (the girl child). - Extreme compassionate grounds such as life-threatening illness. - Change in the residency status of the girl child.
The account cannot be closed early simply because the parent needs the money. This illiquidity is by design, the same logic that makes PPF effective for long-term saving.
Where it fits in a financial plan
If you have a daughter under 10, opening an SSY account and depositing Rs 1.5 lakh a year for 15 years builds a corpus of roughly Rs 65-70 lakh at maturity at the current rate, entirely tax-free. This works well for education or marriage expenses in the distant future.
Pair it with ELSS or equity SIPs for goals where you need higher potential returns, since SSY is fixed-income by nature and will not beat inflation by a wide margin.
Use our PPF calculator to compare long-term small-savings growth under similar assumptions.