Union Government cuts interest rate on small post office schemes by 0.25%

Union Government has cut interest rates on short-term small saving schemes below five years of maturity by 0.25 per cent including post office deposits and Kisan Vikas Patras.
The decision to this effect was taken to align interest rates on small savings with market rates and help the economy move to a lower overall interest rate regime eventually.
Key facts

• Post office savings with term of 1, 2 and 3 year, Kisan Vikas Patra as well as 5-year Recurring Deposits till now earned higher interest than the government securities of similar tenures.
• However, Government has left social security schemes such as Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, long term Monthly Income Scheme and PPF untouched.

Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Rate

• Union Government has increased interim interest rate for the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for this year by 0.05% over last year and has been fixed at 8.8%.
• The decision for this marginal increase was taken in meeting of the Central Board of Trustees of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (CBTEPFO) chaired by the Minister of State (MoS) for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2016