Sukanya Samridhi Yojana

Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme is a small deposit scheme for girl child, as part of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign, which would fetch yearly interest rate of 9.1 per cent and provide income tax deduction Under section 80C of the Income Tax Act,1961. It is a scheme with the vision to provide for Girl Child Education and Her Marriage Expense. The scheme was launched in January 2015

• The scheme will ensure equitable share to a girl child in resources and savings of a family in which she is generally discriminated against a male child.
• Sukanya Samridhi Yojana will enable parents to open bank accounts of girls who are under 10 years of age. 
• Depositor- For this scheme Depositor is an individual who on behalf of a minor girl child of whom he or she is the guardian and deposits amount in account opened under this scheme . In this guardian can be
  a)  either father or mother; and
  b)  where neither parent is alive or is incapable of acting, a person entitled under the law for the time being in force to have the care of the property of the minor
• Sukanya Samridhi Account can be opened at any time from the birth of a girl child till she attains the age of 10 years with a minimum deposit of 1000 rupees. 
• The account will remain operative for 21 years from the date of opening of the account or marriage of the girl child after attaining 18 years of age.
• To meet the requirement of higher education expenses, partial withdrawal of 50 percent of the balance amount will be allowed after the girl child has attended 18 years of age.
• Account Can be opened for Maximum two girls – Natural or legal guardian of a girl child   allowed to open one account each for two girl children’s and  can be opened at any post office in India doing savings bank work and Branch of a commercial bank authorised by the Central Government to open an account under ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Account Rules, 2014’
• The account may be opened with an initial deposit of one thousand rupees and thereafter any amount in multiple of one hundred rupees may be deposited subject to the condition that a minimum of one thousand rupees shall be deposited in a financial year but the total money deposited in an account on a single occasion or on multiple occasions shall not exceed one lakh fifty thousand rupees in a financial year. 
• Drawback of the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme-
  • High Lock in Period
  • Limitation on No. of Account
  • Tax on Interest Income
  • Scheme do not provide for online transfer of Amount in this account. It allows only payment by Cash, Cheque and Demand Draft.
  • No Clarity on Future Interest Rate for this account.
  • No Clarity on Taxability of Maturity Amount.