Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) Account: Guide with Revised Rules in Scheme

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Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana/Scheme is a government scheme, launched by Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime minister of India. The scheme is completely aimed for the betterment and upliftment of the girl child in the country and to save money for the girl child to gave her a good education and for taken care of her wedding expenses in every family. The scheme is an initiative taken by the government to save girl child in the country as Mr. Modi chanted the slogan of “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” and well connected it to the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana. This scheme is, guaranteed a financial security and financial dependence for a women in his hard times. And the one most important and beneficial feature of the scheme is that only the girl child (account holder) can withdraw the deposited amount and not even her parent or guardian (depositor) is not authorized to withdraw money on behalf of the girl.

The scheme was introduced in January, 2015 and the Finance Ministry gave authorization to lots of public and private sector banks, as well as the post offices for opening accounts, since then a huge number of customers have already applied for it and many more applying for it.

Some Features and Benefits of Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme

The most significant features and benefits of the Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme are as follow:

• Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme is available for every girl child who is 10 years old or less.
• Under the Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme, invested amount are exempted from income tax, under section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
• For this financial year (FY 2016-17), 8.6% per annum is the interest rate which is much more than any other schemes including PPF. This interest rate is not be fixed for the tenure and be revised every year by the Finance Ministry in the month of April, last year when the scheme was introduced the rate of interest was 9.1% per annum to attract a huge volume of rural masses towards this scheme.
• The partial withdrawal up to the 50 percent of the account balance is allowed for the higher education of the girl child, if she reaches the 18 years age or passed the tenth standard, whichever is earlier. Earlier it was allowed only at the age of 18 years for higher education.
• The parents or Legal guardians of the girl child can open an account and can operate it, on her behalf until she reaches the age of 18, but can’t withdraw any sum of money from the account.
• As per the changed rules, the scheme matures on completion of 21 years from date of opening the account or after the marriage of the account holder of the scheme.
• The guardian or depositor have need to made payment under this scheme for only 14 years, after that the benefits will continue to accrue until the 21st year of the account holder, as per the policy.
• The maximum limit that can be deposited in an account, under this Sukanya scheme is Rs.1,50,000 per annum.
• The scheme account can easily be opened at any of the authorized banks or at any post office comes under the scheme.
• The Sukanya Samriddhi scheme is also benefited, because of its transferable deposit feature, so any account holder can transferred the invested amount from one authorized bank to another bank and from any post office to any authorized bank and vice versa.
• Any girl child or account holder is authorized to open only one account, if multiple accounts with similar account name found, it will be liable to pay heavy penalty.
• A provision of penalty of Rs.50 is also suggested under the scheme if in case the relevant amount is not credited to the account by the due date.
• Sukanya Samriddhi Account can be closed only after the account holder reaches the 18 years of age.
• If the account is not closed and the money is not withdrawn by the account holder even after account completed 21 years then no interest amount will be paid.

Some of the Revised Rules of the SSY

• Now for partial withdrawal of the amount, a documentary proof of account holder’s admission in the educational institution or a fee slip need to be produced. And the payment of the partial withdrawal will be done on lump sum amount or in Installments, which not be exceed over one per year, for a maximum of five year period.
• The partial withdrawal amount will be restricted to the fee amount, if the educational fee is less than 50 per cent of the account balance.
• Premature closure of the account will continue to be allowed, if the account holder is not less than 18 years of age on the date of marriage. Altogether, no premature closure should be allowed before one month and after three month of the marriage.
• As per earlier rules the account matures on the completion of 21 years of age from the date of opening of the account but now it can also matures on marriage of the account holder, whichever is earlier.

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How to Open SSA (Sukanya Samriddhi Account)?

A Completely focused scheme mostly for the upliftment of women in the rural areas as they have a lower literacy rate. So to taken care of the education of the girl child and the expenses on her marriage, the Finance Ministry started this scheme and trying its level best to popularize it in backward and rural areas, so the women there can get good education and got married in a good family, without becoming a burden on his family.

One can easily open a Sukanya Samriddhi Account for his girl child at any authorized public and private bank or any authorized post office in the country. The only thing have to do is filled the availed application of scheme and submit it with the required documents. The post office or bank will then do the verification of the filled details and proceed for the account opening.

What is the Eligibility Criteria to Open Account in SSY Scheme?

Like all other deposit accounts, there are also some fixed criteria for opening a Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana account which must be fulfilled.

•  Scheme can be taken by the parents or legal guardians of the girl child any time before the girl become 10 years old.
•  Initially when scheme was launched, a grace period of one year was announced means, if a girl child born between 2nd February 2003 and 1 December, 2004 is eligible to open account by 1 December, 2015 in this facility.

List of Required Documents to Open Sukanya Samriddhi Account

As per every government scheme, a fixed set of documents is necessary to produce to open a Sukanya Samriddhi account. The bunch of documents will need to be submit in authorized post office or authorized bank under this scheme along with a filled formatted application form by the bank or post office. The required documents are:

•    Filled Sukanya Samriddhi Account Form
•    Birth Certificate of Account holder (Girl Child)
•    Depositor’s Identity Proof (Parents or legal guardian)
•    Ration card, Passport, PAN card, Driving License
•    Address Proof of depositor
•    Electricity Bill, Telephone Bill

Deposited or Invested Amount Limit  and Applicable Interest Rate

The decided deposited amount under the scheme to keep active your account is minimum Rs 1,000 and maximum Rs 1,50,000 annually, by regular contribution or by lump sum amount. if one fails to do so, the account will be inactive and again be activated only just by paying a penalty of Rs 50 along with the deposited Rs 1000 amount.
last year when the scheme was launched, the rate of interest was 9.1 percent per annum for making the scheme popular. Every year in the month of April, interest rate will be revised by the Finance Ministry. However, this was much more than the offered interest by the other schemes in the market. The revised interest rate for this FY(2016-17), has been marked 8.6 percent per annum.

Nomination Ease

There is no nomination facility provided under this scheme, unfortunately if any mis-happening occurs as death of girl child, the account has been closed and the invested money will be given to the parent or legal guardians of the account holder.

Duration of SSY Scheme

Earlier, the Duration for the maturity of the SSY scheme is 21 years and if the account has not been closed after this duration, by the account holder or its depositor the interest on the amount will be continue to add every year but now account will mature till 21 years after then no interest will be payable. And if in case the account holder get married before 21 years, before the maturity of the scheme, your account will be deactivated and no interest will be added to the amount.

Partial Withdrawal & Premature Closure

The partial withdrawal of the deposit amount was allowed on the further mentioned condition, when the scheme was launched, if the 14 years of activation of account completed and only upto 50% of the invested amount can be withdrawn after girl reaches 18 years and before 21 years of his age. Now, according to the revised rule, the 50% can be withdrawn for education after 18 years of age or tenth class passed, whichever is earlier.

One can closed the account as the girl child becomes 18 years old, Conditionally, if she got married before the amount withdrawal. And then you can withdraw 50 percent amount of the standing balance in the account at the end of the foregoing financial year, only after girl turn 18. It’s kind of a lock in period of at least 8 year before which no one cannot withdraw any sort of amount from the account.

List of Authorized Public and Private Sector Banks for Opening SSY Account:

•    Allahabad Bank
•    Andhra Bank
•    Axis Bank
•    Bank of Baroda (BoB)
•    Bank of India (BoI)
•    Bank of Maharashtra (BoM)
•    Canara Bank
•    Central Bank of India (CBI)
•    Corporation Bank
•    Dena Bank
•    ICICI Bank
•    IDBI Bank
•    Indian Bank
•    Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)
•    Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC)
•    Punjab National Bank (PNB)
•    Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB)
•    Syndicate Bank
•    UCO Bank
•    Union Bank of India
•    United Bank of India
•    Vijaya Bank
•    State Bank of India (SBI)
•    State Bank of Patiala (SBP)
•    State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ)
•    State Bank of Travancore (SBT)
•    State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH)
•    State Bank of Mysore (SBM)

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