Returns on the Public Provident Fund (PPF), frozen at 7.1% since April 2020, should have been pegged at 7.51% for this quarter as per the formula-based rates regime for small savings schemes adopted in 2016, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) calculations showed.
The government has raised the rates offered for most small savings instruments (SSIs) in the range of 40 basis points (bps) to 150 bps over the last five quarters. One basis point equals 0.01 percentage point. “With these revisions, the actual interest rates on most SSIs are now better aligned with the formula-based rates,” the RBI, which has hiked interest rates by 250 bps since May 2022, noted in its monetary policy report for October.
