Friday, September 4, 2015

Now a boy-oriented savings scheme by postal department

Chennai:

After the success of Selvamagal Semipu, a girl-oriented savings scheme, the Department of Posts will now start a separate savings scheme for boys now.



Called Ponmagan Podhuaippu Nidhi, it will be open for boys below the age of 10 and also for those above 10.



Talking to Express, Merwin Alexander, Postmaster General of Chennai City Region, who is the brain behind the scheme, said that the idea crept up on why not a savings scheme for boys.



“The girls have Selvamagal Semipu (Sukanya Samridhi account) and we thought, we should also have an attractive name for the scheme for boys, which will be launched on Friday,” said Alexander.



“This is a Public Provident Fund (PPF) account which is a statutory scheme of the government and subscriptions to which qualify for deduction from the taxable income for the subscriber under Section 80 C for Income Tax purposes,” he said.



“Children below the age of 10 may open Ponmangan Podhuvaipu Nidhi through guardian while children above 10 may open account individually. In fact, there is no age limit for opening an account under this scheme,” says Alexander.



Under the scheme, interest for the current year is 8.7 per cent and the interest earned is totally exempted from Income Tax. All Post offices will accept deposits and the minimum deposit allowed for a year is Rs 100 and maximum is Rs 1.5 lakh.



Interestingly, the scheme is being launched when Chennai City region is tragetting savings bank income of Rs 170 crore this financial year. “Last year, the target was Rs 150 crore and we managed to achieve 95 per cent. This year we expect to attain the target as we hope the stock market crisis will force people to invest in the savings scheme,” said Alexander.



Interestingly, Alexander is hoping that the scheme would be a big hit in rural area. “If it is hit here then other regions in the country would follow us,” he says. The Selvamagal Semipu introduced in February this year for girls created a record of sorts in Tamil Nadu as nearly 10.6 lakh accounts were opened

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