Banking & Savings · Affects everyone
PPF stays at 7.1% as small savings rates hold for a ninth quarter
The Finance Ministry left every small savings rate unchanged for July to September 2026, with SCSS and Sukanya Samriddhi still the highest at 8.2%.
What this means for you
If you are in the 30 percent tax bracket, PPF at 7.1 percent tax-free is equivalent to a taxable deposit paying about 10.1 percent, which nothing on the market offers. Fill your PPF before any taxable fixed deposit. One timing detail worth money: deposit on or before the 5th of the month and that month's interest counts, deposit on the 6th and it does not.
Compare a taxable FD after TDSOpens with these numbers already filled in. Change any of them to match your own.
The Finance Ministry's quarterly notification kept all small savings scheme rates unchanged for the July to September 2026 quarter. The Public Provident Fund stays at 7.1 percent, the National Savings Certificate at 7.7 percent, and both the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana at 8.2 percent.
This is the ninth consecutive quarter without a change, which makes these rates unusually predictable for planning purposes.
The number that matters is not the headline rate but the post-tax one. PPF and Sukanya Samriddhi are exempt at deposit, on interest and at maturity, so their rates are what you actually keep. Interest on NSC, SCSS and bank fixed deposits is taxable at your slab, so a 7.7 percent NSC returns about 5.4 percent in hand to someone in the 30 percent bracket.
That gap is why a 7.1 percent tax-free PPF beats a 7.7 percent taxable NSC for most higher-rate taxpayers, despite looking worse on the poster.
Sources
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