What is Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) Scheme
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) initiative as part of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign, with the goal of safeguarding the future of a female child.
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Here are 6 benefits of Sukanya Samrudhi Yojana
A saving scheme for girl child
This scheme is an excellent medium for a parents of a girl child to invest for her future. Using this scheme, the parents can directly start an investment in the name of the girl child.
The investment can range from as low as Rs. 250/- up to Rs. 1,50,000/- per financial year in order to secure her future. This money can be withdrawn in the case of her further studies or in case of her marriage.
It is to be noted that the parents need to start their investment before their girl child turns 10 years old.
Long term investment plan
Parents can start their investment as soon as the girl child is born. The deposit period is of up to 14 years and a maturity period of 21 years. After the girl turns 21, the account get closed and the investment corpus is refunded.
Withdrawal is permissible for higher education and marriage
The money that is saved / invested in this scheme can be redeemed in the case where the girl child decided to get married or pursue her further studies. The fund corpus will be allowed to be redeemed only after the girl turns 18 for the above mentioned reasons.
Interest earned is free from income tax
This is one of the biggest advantage of investing in a SSY scheme. The returns earned from the scheme will be free from income tax. All the money with the compounding returns can be used by the girl child for her future perusal.
The deposit qualifies for tax exemption as per IT Act
As per the Income Tax Act, there is a tax exemption of up to Rs. 1,50,000/- when the parents of a girl child invests in this scheme. This is an added advantage for the middle class families, where they can reduce their tax slab and thereby pay low income tax year on year.
Availability of loan facility
One added advantage of investing in this scheme is that, one can also avail a loan on the capital in case of emergence. The parents need not redeem the entire cash in case of a financial crunch. And indeed take a loan against the SSY assets and repay the loan, without disturbing the compounding effects on the fund investment.
Who can apply?
In order to participate in this scheme, the parents need to have a girl child (of Indian origin). The maximum entry age for the girl is 10 years.
This means that, the parents can only avail this benefit for their girl child from the day she is born, till she turns 10 years. Parents can only avail this facility for maximum two girls child.
Conclusion
This scheme is extremely important for parent with a girl child. The government has provided huge benefits for the parents to commence their future investment in their early stages of life. This reduces the financial burden from their parents and also promotes girl child.
Summing up
- Minimum deposit ₹ 250/- Maximum deposit ₹ 1.5 lakh in a financial year.
- Account can be opened in the name of a girl child till she attains the age of 10 years.
- Only one account can be opened in the name of a girl child.
- Account can be opened in Post offices and in authorized banks.
- Withdrawal shall be allowed for the purpose of higher education of the Account holder to meet education expenses.
- The account can be prematurely closed in case of marriage of girl child after her attaining the age of 18 years.
- The account can be transferred anywhere in India from one Post office/Bank to another.
- The account shall mature on completion of a period of 21 years from the date of opening of account.
- Deposit qualifies for deduction under Sec.80-C of I.T.Act.
- Interest earned in the account is free from Income Tax under Section -10 of I.T.Act.
Visit the official website to know more about the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana Scheme.
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