Post Office Interest Rates 2012
Unlike the previous two years where the post office interest rates did not see much change there is a slight difference for this year 2012 where we did see some increase in interest rates for most of the schemes available at the post offices in India like their regular saving account, Time Depost, recurring deposit, MIP, NSC and most importantly the Public Provident Fund (PPF) which all witnessed an increase in rates from this year onwards. While the other schemes do not help you save on tax, while NSC and PPF remain the best option in terms of safe investments which can help you save tax till this year.
All the below mentioned interest rates are applicable throughout from January 2012 to December 2012 until and unless the government decides to change it in between
Post Office Savings Account:
The interest rate has been raised for the regular Post Office Savings Account on par with the bank saving accounts. Now the new interest rate being 4% p.a. The interest from this account is tax free unlike the bank saving accounts.
Post Office Time Deposit
The post office time deposit or fixed deposit has the following interest rates for various tenure
1 year – 7.70% p.a.
2 years – 7.80% p.a.
3 years – 8.00% p.a.
5 years – 8.30% p.a.
The rates mentioned on the above mentioned fixed deposits from post offices are slightly lesser when compared with the bank fixed deposits.
5 year post office Recurring deposit:
The Rs. 10 if deposited in the recurring deposit per month will fetch you Rs. 738.62 after the 5 year tenure and you can calculate the yields according to your deposits.
PostOffice Monthly Income Account Scheme
The interest rate for the Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) is 8.20% p.a. Minimum Rs. 1500 and maximum Rs. 4.5 lakhs. The date of maturity will be 5 years from start.
National Savings Certificate (NSC) 5 years
The tenure for this scheme has been reduced to 5 years against the 6 years previously. The interest rate being 8.4% p.a. The interest rate Your Rs. 100 invested in this NSC scheme will grow to Rs. 150.90. The lock-in period is 5 years.
National Savings Certificate (NSC) 10 years
This is a new scheme introduced from last year. The rate of interest being 8.7% p.a. The lock-in period is 10 years.
Public Provident Fund (PPF) 15 years
The all time popular tax saving scheme till now PPF interest rate is increased to 8.6% p.a. from December 2011 and will continue throughout 2012 as well and hence the best tax saving scheme among others available till now. The minimum amount for investment is Rs. 500 per year. The maximum amount has been revised recently to Rs. 1 lakh as against Rs. 70,000 previously.
Senior Citizen Savings Scheme
The interest rage for this scheme is 9.0% p.a. The minimum amount deposit is Rs. 1000 and in multiples. The lock-in period is for 5 years.
Morgan Stanley Multi Asset Fund
After a long time here’s an NFO which features Equity, the Morgan Stanley Multi Asset Fund. This is an open-ended debt fund which invests also in equity, debt as well as gold. Hence it is a hybrid fund which is best suited for anyone looking to spread their investment in all 3 asset class at once.
Asset Allocation: There are two plans available with this fund namely plan A and plan B. In Plan A you can get to choose to invest in 80-100% in debt and money market instruments and the rest in equities. In Plan B your money will be invested in debt, gold as well as equities. The gold will be in the form of investing in Gold ETF.
NFO Details: At the time of NFO the unit price of the Morgan Stanley Multi Asset Fund will be Rs. 10 per unit and the minimum investment amount is Rs. 5000. The NFO closes on January 31, 2012.
Options Available: Growth and dividend payout and reinvestment options.
Such hybrid funds are a good choice for those who are looking to diversify their investment with one single investment option but since being an NFO, think twice before investing in it. Otherwise you can also choose other such 3 mixed class funds which other MFs like the Sundaram Equity Plus.
It is primarily a debt fund which has its leg on both equities and gold class.
Earn upto 9.15% with SREI Long Term Infrastructure Bonds
SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited has come up with their own infrastructure bond issue with the SREI Long Term Infrastructure Bonds. This current issue is open from December 31, 2011 and closes on January 31, 2012. These bonds are secured, non-convertible, redeemable debentures and comes with the added benefit of tax savings under the new section 80CCF.
The Face value of each of the SREI Infrastructure bonds is Rs. 1000 each with the minimum application of Rs. 1000 and Rs. 1 thereafter.
Rating
These current infrasturucre bonds from SREI comes with CARE AA by CARE rating agency.
Lock-in Period
As is the case of any other infrastructure bonds with tax benefits these too come with a lock-in period of 5 years from the date of allotment.
Interest Rate
The coupon rate or interest rate with the bond you can earn is up to 9.15% p.a. depending upon various factors like the option you choose like the cumulative or non-cumulative option, etc.
These SREI bonds will be listed at Bombay stock exchange (BSE) and the depositories are NSDL and CDSL and can be brought only in demat form, no physical buying of bond is allowed.
If you have missed the previous bond issues this year, you can try this bond issue from SREI to save additional tax of Rs. 20,000.
Earn up to 17.77% with SBI Tax Saving Deposits
State Bank of India (SBI) has its very own Tax Saving Deposits in which one can earn up to 17.77% p.a. on your regular deposit (which is calculated on the basis of tax being saved as well). Such tax saving fixed deposits offer double benefit of decent return as well as tax savings.
Features
- Minimum investment amount – Rs. 10,000
- Maximum deposits – Rs. 1 lakh
- Lock in period of 5 years
- Immediate tax saving – Rs. 3090
- Effective yield -17.77% p.a.
- Senior citizens – 18.55%
- Tax saving under section 80 C
Rate of Interest
With this SBI Tax Saving Deposit you can earn an interest of 9.25% p.a. for the general public and 9.75% p.a. for the senior citizens.
But these rate of interest and huge returns are calculated on the basis that you are falling on the 30% tax bracket. Also this tax saving FD will be void come the DTC where such plans do not feature or come under the tax saving option.
If you are looking for a safe and yet short term investment option solely for the reason of tax saving and don’t want to lock-in your money for 15 years with the Post Office PPF then you can go ahead and try such Tax Saving Fixed Deposit Schemes and this SBI Scheme is an ideal option.
Earn Interest of upto 8.20% with PFC Bonds
The Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC) has come up with a new bond issue from December 30, 2011 and open till January 16, 2012. The coupon rates for these PFC Bonds has been set at 8.20% and 8.30%. These are tax free coupons which earn 8.2% for 10 years and 8.3% p.a. for 15 years. PFC is a navratna company wholly owned by Government of India. They are planning to raise around Rs. 4000 crore with this bond issue.
Bond Details
The face value of the bond is Rs. 1000 per bond and minimum application is for 10 bonds or Rs. 10,000. There will be tranche 1 and tranche 2 series where the tenor will be for 10 years and 15 years. The interest will be paid annually. These bonds will be listed at BSE after the listing date.
Features
- Tax free interest component
- Allotment is on first come first serve
- There is no lock-in period applicable for these bonds
- Can be brought and sold at BSE stock exchange right from the first day of listing
Credit Rating
These Power Finance Corporation (PFC Bonds) come with the AAA ratings by ICRA and AAA/Stable by CRISIL.
The biggest advantage or benefits of this PFC Bond is that the interest earned from it is completely tax free and there will be no tax deduction at source whatsoever and you don’t even need to pay tax for it. If you are looking for a safe and long term investment option then these PFC Bonds are the ideal choice for you but remember that since the demand is huge you may not get what you had applied for and hence go for more to avoid disappointment. It is the best debt investment to come up of late.