Meeting of the Empowered Committee of secretaries (E-CoS) headed by Cabinet Secretary on 7th Central Pay Commission recommendation with members of the Standing Committee of the JCM National Council Staff Side will be held on 1st March 2016 at 06:45 PM

Full Pension for Pre-2006 Pensioners with 20 Years of Service – Govt agrees for implementing orders of CAT within one month

      Pre-2006 Pensioners with less than 33 years of service are vehemently fighting for payment of full pension since 6th Pay Commission has allowed full pension for Central Government Employees with 20 years of service above, who retires after 2006. Many pre-2006 pensioners had sought legal remedy in this issue.

In one of such cases, Government has agreed to implement the judgement of the CAT within one month for grant of full Pension to Pre 2006 Pensioners who retired after 10 years of service on superannuation or 20 years of service on Voluntary retirement or absorption in PSU. This commitment was given by the Government Advocate in CAT PB New Delhi during the hearing of the Contempt of Court Case filed by Shri Pratap Narayan & others -vs – Union of India.

Source : http://www.gconnect.in/orders-in-brief/pension/full-pension-for-pre-2006-pensioners-2.html

Postal And Bank Interest Rates Comparison Table

Casual Labourers with temporary Status-clarification regarding contribution to GPF and Pension under the old pension scheme.

To view please Click Here.

Joint bi-ennial conference of GUNTUR Division

       A joint bi-ennial conference of NAPE PIII, PM&MTS and NUGDS held at Chandramoulinagar SO, Guntur on 21.2.2016 under the presidentship of Sri T.Siddaiah. Sri Vasireddy Sivaji CS Gr-c, Sri Gulam Rabbani CS PIV, Sri K.Muralikrishna, ACS PIII, Sri K.Mark DS PIII Ongole and Sri J.Ramakrishnakumar DS PIII Narasaraopet, Sri Leelakrishna, DS PIII Tenali Division were attended the conference. Many of the officials were discussed the CBS and Mc.mish problems. At last a resolution made on CBS issues and if not settled we should go on strike.
  At the end of session Sri Josephkumar, Sri Parameswarachary and Smt.Kanakavalli were elected as President, Divisional secretary and Treasurer respectively for Group-c union. The circle union congratulates all the newly elected body. 

Outcome of the meeting between NJCA and 7th CPC Implementation Committee

A meeting of the National Joint Council of Action with Convenor, 7th CPC implementation cell took place today as scheduled. Discussion took place about the 26 point charter of demands earlier submitted by NJCA.

The association side agitated against NPS, Minimum wage, Multiplying factor, decrease of HRA and other issues.

The official side took note of the issues and promised to put up before the empowered committee headed by Cabinet Secretary and hopefully a meeting with the Cabinet Secy. may be arranged within next 15 days.

NJCA, informing the updates, urged all members to keep on preparation for the proposed strike from 11th April as decided earlier

Implementation Committee Working On 7th CPC, Notification Likely In April

The implementation committee formed to review 7th CPC report is working on it. It requested all dept.s to send comments within 17th Feb but unfortunately the response has not been very satisfactory.

The committee urged to send the comments immediately vide their letter dated 15th Feb.

Click here for the letter

Today the list of nodal officers for different dept.s / ministries has been published.

Click here for the list

The committee will process the recommendations with due importance to comments from all stakeholders, i.e., associations and ministries, the final report likely to be placed before the empowered committee of secretaries in April and it will be sent to cabinet thereafter.

In the meanwhile everybody is eagerly waiting for the budget proposal where substantial amount is likely to be kept for the pay hike.

India Post rides high as villagers shop online

With his rickety bicycle and sackcloth mail bag, 62-year-old Indian postman Chet Ram does not look like a worker at the vanguard of an e-commerce revolution delivering everything from mobile phones to cow manure.

He pedals miles each day in rural Rajasthan state, ferrying packages to villages and takes payments in cash because most of his customers do not have bank accounts, let alone credit cards. While in the United States online giant Amazon and its ilk experiment with futuristic drones and one-hour deliveries, in rural India e-commerce retains a distinctly old-fashioned feel.

Yet the dawn of online shopping is changing the lives of people in rural areas -- and is breathing new life into India Post, the ailing state-run postal network, which has struggled with a huge deficit for years. In the past two years the 160-year-old postal giant has tied up with 400 e-commerce companies including Amazon and Indian giant Flipkart to deliver a diverse range of goods.

It deploys its vast network of about 460,000 employees across 155,000 post offices to take goods to customers in remote areas, often hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the nearest town. Government clerk Surinder Singh Yadav from rural Ula Hedi village in Neemrana district says the dawn of e-commerce has transformed shopping for his family, who now nudge him to order products they see advertised on television.

"These companies give us a variety we don't get in our local markets, quality at competitive rates and a doorstep delivery," said Yadav, as he accepted a delivery of a spray paint machine. The absence of reliable private delivery companies outside the big cities led India Post to step in to fill the gap.

"Until recently, people in these rural areas had aspirations but no means to access the market," Kavery Banerjee, secretary of India Post, told AFP.

"Now we are delivering women's clothes and latest electronic gadgets even in the remote regions of country like Leh and Ladakh," she added. It has been a huge success, with parcel deliveries increasing 15-fold to 75,000 daily deliveries in the past two years. But India's vast areas of rural terrain, where roads can be poor and infrastructure patchy, pose challenges to the digital revolution.

Most small post offices, like the one in Neemrana, depend on unreliable public transport to collect parcels from region's bigger post offices. Postal workers use bicycles and old cloth mail bags which make it difficult to transport bigger or multiple parcels. Many rural Indians are still new to the Internet -- up to a billion people are not yet online in the country -- and are wary of e-commerce sites, preferring to hand over money only after receiving the goods.

Part of the firms' success has been driven by giving customers the chance to pay cash on delivery -- although it takes up to two days to find out if a parcel was accepted by a distant recipient.

"It has given a sense of empowerment to customers who are not confident about e-commerce shopping," said K.C Verma, an assistant superintendent at a post office in Behror, a town close to Neemrana.

One such customer is Sudesh Yadav, a farmer's wife in Daulat Singh Pura village in Neemrana who refused to accept her parcel of a car cleaning kit. "The company has sent the order almost a week late," she told the postman who had cycled to her home on a cold January morning to deliver the goods.

"We have already purchased it from a nearby town. Take it back," she said.

India Post, which was founded under colonial rule in 1854, hopes the huge growth of e-commerce will enable it to reverse its ailing financial situation. The value of cash-on-delivery parcels handled by the postal department is expected to register a 300% increase by the end of financial 2015 compared with last year, India Post said.

It hopes to slash its $800 million average annual deficit and improve profitability at its 140,000 rural post offices.

Communication and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters last month that the Indian postal department had the potential to become the "world's leading e-commerce delivery platform".

Source:-The Times of India

Brief of the NJCA meeting held on 19.02.2016 with the Convener, Implementation Cell, Ministry of Finance

NJCA

NATIONAL JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION,

4, STATE ENTRY ROAD, NEW DELHI-110055

No.NJCA/2016

Dated: 19.02.2016

Dear Comrades,

Sub: Brief of the NJCA meeting held on 19.02.2016 with the Convener, Implementation Cell, Ministry of Finance (Government of India), reg. 7th CPC recommendations and Charter of Demands of the NJCA

A meeting of the NJCA held today with the Convener, Implementation Cell, Ministry of Finance, Shri R.K. Chaturvedi, wherein we discussed and emphasized on all the 26-point Charter of Demands of the NJCA send to the Cabinet Secretary on 10.12.2015. 

We agitated the issues of NPS, Minimum Wage, Multiplying Factor, deduction of HRA and all other important issues.

The Convener, Implementation Cell, Shri Chaturvedi, after hearing everybody, said that, he would put-up the issues to the Cabinet Secretary, and hopefully a meeting of the JCA would be held with the Cabinet Secretary and the Empowered Committee shortly within 15 days.

Let us not leave any stone unturned for preparations of the strike.

With Best Wishes!

   

Convener

Shiva Gopal Mishra

Authority: http://ncjcmstaffside.com/

Centre Likely To Hike DA To 125% From Existing 119%

New Delhi: The Centre is likely to hike dearness allowance (DA) to 125 per cent from existing 119 per cent, which would benefit its over 10 million employees and pensioners.

“Average rate of Consumer Price Index-Industrial Labour from January to December, 2015 was 6.73 per cent. Thus, the Centre will increase dearness allowance by six percentage points to 125 per cent from existing 119 per cent as per accepted formula for calculation,” Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers President K K N Kutty told PTI.

The new rate of DA will be implemented from January 1, 2016, which will be applicable for 4.8 million central government employees and 5.5 million pensioners.

DA is paid as a proportion of basic pay of employees.

The proposal to hike DA is moved by the Finance Ministry on the basis of accepted formula for calculation. The Union Cabinet approves the DA hike for its employees.

However, dissatisfied over the meagre hike in DA in the backdrop of high cost of living, Kutty said, “The real inflation ranges between 220-240 per cent, but we will get only 125 per cent.”

The Centre revised DA twice in a year on the basis of one year average of retail inflation for industrial workers as per the accepted formula.

Earlier in September last year, DA was increased to 119 per cent from 113 per cent which was effective from July 1, 2015.

In April last year, the government had hiked DA by 6 percentage points to 113 per cent of their basic pay with effect from January 1, 2015.

Source: NDTV

CBS - Facility of Internet/Mobile/Net Banking

Click Here to view the SOP on facility of Internet/Mobile/Net banking in CBS.

Click Here to view the facilities in Internet banking.

24th Circle Conference of NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES, Group-c, A.P Circle

   The 24th Circle conference of National Association of Postal employees, Group-c, Andhrapradesh 

Circle and 23rd NUGDS circle conference of AP Circle were held jointly at “Akhila Bharatha Baktha Markandeya Annasatram, Tiruchanuru, Tirupathi” from 14.2.2016 to 17.2.2016 under the chairmanship of Sri G.Nageswararao, SPM Ramalayam NDTSO, Bhadrachalam & Circle President. On 14.2.2016 at 6PM a grand open session inaugurated by Sri D.Teagarajan SG FNPO. Sri D.kishanrao GS NAPE Gr-c CHQ, Sri Gulam Rabbani President NUPE PM & MTS CHQ & CS PIV, Sri P.U.Muralidharan GS NUGDS, Sri B.Shivakumar Circle Secretary Karnataka Circle, Smt Indrani All India women committee member, Sri V.Sivaji CS NAPE Gr-c, Sri Ch.Lakshminarayana CS NUGDS, Sri Devanna NUGDS CHQ member were addressed the gathering. SG and GS given lecture on 7th CPC issues, CBS /Mc camish problems and other sectional problems. A beautiful and stunning classical dance performed by Kum.Lalitha Sindhuri at the beginning of the secession. 

On 15.2.2016, 16.2.2016 and 17.2.2016 Subjects committee held and many of delegates were participated in the debate. A committee was appointed with members Sri B.Singh , HanmakondaDivision and Sri JRK Kumar, DS Narasaraopet Division to sort out CBS problems. The house taken a decision to go on strike if the problems were not settled soon.   

On 16.2.2016 election of office bearers process completed. Sri R.Sudhakar, PA, Anantapur HO, Sri Sivaji Vasireddy, Actt, Sattenapalle HO and Sri K.Venugopalreddy, PA Secundrabad HO were elected unanimously as Circle President, Secretary and Treasurer respectively. The circle union congratulates all the delegates for electing the following body unanimously.  The Circle union conveys sincere thanks to all the crew who made the conference A grand success. 

Circle President:        Sri R.Sudhakar, PA  Anantapur HO, Anantapur Dn.

Working President:  Sri G.Nageswararao, SPM Ramalayam SO, Bhadrachalam, Khammam Dn.

Vice President:          Sri S.Chakradhararao, PA, Warangal HO, Warangal Dn. 

                                   Sri G.Shankar Goud, SPM, Bhagyanagar NDTSO, Adilabad Dn.

Circle Secretary:        Sri Sivaji Vasireddy, Accountant, Sattenapalle HO, Narasaraopet Dn.

Asst. Circle Secre:      1.Sri P.Yadagirigoud, PA, Humayun Nagar SO, Hyderabd City Dn. 

                                     2.Sri P.S.David Raj, PA, Chittore HO, Chittore Dn.

                                     3.Sri M.Tirumalarao, Postmaster HSG-I, Guntur HO, Guntur Dn. 

                                     4.Sri K.Muralikrishna, PA, Vijayawada HO, Vijayawada Dn. 

                                     5.Sri L.Krishna Prasad, OA, P&T Dispensary, Visakhapatnam, Vizag Dn.    

Circle Treasurer:      Sri K.Venugopal Reddy, PA, Secundrabad HO, Secundrabad Dn.

Asst. Treasurer:       Sri K.S.K.Ratnaraju, PA, Kakinada HO, Kakinada Dn.

Org. Secretaries:      1. Sri K.Sudhakar Reddy, PA, VA Puri SO, Hanmakonda Dn. 

                                 2. Sri Maddiletireddy, PA, Kurnool HO, Kurnool Dn. 

                                 3. Sri B.Srinivasulu, PA, Stn. Jadcherla HO, Wanaparthy Dn.

Auditor:  Sri Sk.Shafiulla, PA, SV University PO, Tirupathi Dn.

Customers now can own ‘My cancellation’ covers

As part of its efforts to rekindle an interest in philately, the Department of Posts is offering residents a chance to send letters with a personalised touch. 

After personalised stamps, including those with selfies, customers can now own ‘My Cancellation’ on envelopes with special messages.

‘My Cancellation’ allows the customer to get a postal seal with a special message for the specific occasion along with a personalised ‘My Stamp’, which allows their images to be printed on it.

As part of its efforts to rekindle an interest in philately, the Department of Posts is offering residents a chance to send letters with a personalised touch.

The idea for the ‘My Cancellation’ cover was born when a philatelist V. Ethiraj recently ordered Rs.1 lakh worth ‘My Stamps’ with a to-wed couple’s photos printed on them.

He later sought for a special cancellation on the wedding covers too that would carry personalised stamps.

The Department usually releases special cancellation covers commemorating an event along with commemorative stamps.

Mervin Alexander, Postmaster General (Chennai City Region), said: “We decided to offer the personalised cancellation cover as people will cherish the covers. As it is a special facility, My Cancellation will be available only for those who order a minimum of 100 sheets of My Stamp on the same theme.” My Cancellation facility will be offered for Rs. 1,500.

While a good number of people are visiting the Philatelic Bureau at Anna Road head post office campus to get their personalised stamps, the facility offered online has not gained much patronage yet.

Since May 2013, nearly 16, 300 sheets of My stamps have been issued at Anna Road HPO.

A sheet comprising 12 stamps costs Rs.300. However, of this, only 60 were booked online through Chennaipost website.

The Department has earned a revenue of nearly Rs. 49 lakh through the My Stamp initiative. Officials of the postal department said lack of awareness among customers could be behind the poor patronage of the online facility for ordering My Stamp.

More people are opting for photographs to be printed than ‘selfies’ on stamps.

Philatelic deposits being promoted

“We plan to spread awareness among school children about My Stamp, My Cancellation and philatelic deposits. We will also hold special camps for the children to own stamps,” said Mr. Alexander.

Source : http://www.thehindu.com

IndiaPost’s Core Banking System Beats SBI In Size

MUMBAI: The department of posts now has a core banking system that is bigger than that of SBI, Union IT and communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said.

The minister's statement comes at a time when IndiaPost is in the process of launching a payments bank. Infosys had bagged a multi-year Rs 700-crore deal from the department to implement its core banking solution Finacle connecting 1.5 lakh post offices with 20 crore customer accounts in 2012.

Until now, SBI's core banking system implemented by TCS was the largest in the country and also the largest centralized core system implementation ever undertaken. The bank has 16,498 branches and 57,986 ATMs.

However, even this large network pales in comparison to IndiaPost's network. While the post office has a larger network, the accounts are more in the nature of savings and SBI's core system is much more complex as it handles millions of transactions every day. The bank has also built a data warehousing and analytics layer over the core banking platform whereas IndiaPost has completed the first leg of networking.

Speaking at a special session at the Make in India week, Prasad said that the department would soon launch a payments bank. The minister said that around 60 domestic and international entities had evinced interest in partnering with the department. Prasad launched a 'fund-of-funds' aimed at helping startups from the electronics and IT sector create intellectual property. The government would invest up to Rs 2,200 crore in the initiative which would be in the form of a public-private partnership. The Electronic Development Fund is floated by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology.

Dismissed Staff Entitled to Encashment of EL/PL: Madras High Court

Employees dismissed from service after the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings initiated against them are also entitled to encashment of ‘Earned/Privilege Leave’ that they had accumulated to their credit over the years, the Madras High Court Bench here has ruled.

Justice D. Hariparanthaman passed the order while allowing a writ petition filed by the dismissed General Manager of Thanjavur District Central Cooperative Bank since he was denied the benefit on the ground that it would be accorded only to those who retire from service on attaining the age of superannuation.

The judge came to the conclusion after taking a cue from a decision rendered by a Full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on November 9, 2012 wherein it was held that employees can encash their earned leave on the day of retirement irrespective of the pendency of disciplinary proceedings.

“The reason given by the Full Bench is that Earned Leave encashment is a right equal to the right to property guaranteed under Article 300 A of the Constitution and the same cannot be deprived illegally. Hence, the encashment of the same cannot be deprived on dismissal from service,” he said.

Recording that the petitioner, T. Veeravinothan, had 138 days of Earned Leave to his credit since he had joined the bank in 1976 and was dismissed in 2010, just two years before his retirement, the judge directed the bank to disburse the corresponding amount working out to over Rs. 2.28 lakh within six weeks.

The judge came to the conclusion after taking a cue from a decision rendered by a Full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court

Source : http://www.thehindu.com/

Online Subscriber Registration and contribution under NPS using eNPS platform

        In light of Prime Minister’s “Digital India” campaign on promoting e-governance for providing last mile connectivity through extensive use of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) platforms, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has been pursuing the development and operationalization of online transaction facilities for the prospective as well as existing subscribers of NPS.

PFRDA introduced eNPS online portal whereby PAN (Permanent Account Number) and savings bank account of new subscribers to NPS who are already customers of the banks are accepted as KYC with active participation of the banks acting as POPs for opening of accounts under NPS.

PFRDA has received feedback from prospective subscribers and other stakeholders that those who voluntarily seek to use Aadhaar as their document of identity for availing of the eNPS online platform to join NPS should not be deprived of this eNPS facility.

As the identity and address for such account holders is established through e-KYC facility with the express consent of the subscriber through One Time Password (OTP) and as Aadhaar is a unique number, its use as a KYC document rules out the possibility of opening duplicate retirement (PRAN) accounts. PFRDA has accordingly revisited the issue and believes that enabling eAadhaar in addition to PAN and bank account based KYC for the eNPS platform can reduce the cost and time of operation and ensure wider coverage to the citizens of India under the old age income security schemes and thus help in fulfilling the mandate given to it under the provisions of the PFRDA Act, 2013.

PFRDA has accordingly modified the eNPS functionality to accept PAN and bank account or eAadhaar as the KYC document for online registration of subscribers under NPS. With the operationalization of this modified eNPS platform, the subscriber will now have the following options for opening of account:

• Opening of account through any of the Points-of- Presence- Service Provider (POP-SP).

• Opening of account online using PAN and net banking of the selected bank. In this case KYC verification is done by the Bank. The PRAN gets activated only after KYC verification by bank.

• Opening of account online using Aadhaar No. and OTP received from UIDAI. In this case, the subscriber can instantly get their PRAN generated and can contribute.

The eNPS platform using Aadhaar based KYC verification is one of the options for any prospective subscriber to join NPS and it is optional and purely voluntary on the part of the prospective subscriber.

To register under NPS through eNPS using Aadhaar, the prospective subscriber needs to have Aadhaar Number/Card with access to the mobile number registered with Aadhaar.

With the use of this Aadhaar based KYC verification, the subscriber would be able to open his NPS account online. The Prospective subscriber will require to follow the undernoted process for opening of NPS account:

• The prospective subscriber will go to eNPS platform hosted on NPS Trust website www.npstrust.org.in and enter Aadhaar and validate the same using OTP (Sent on the mobile number registered with Aadhaar).

• Then he will be required to fill up the mandatory details like choice of Pension Fund, Investment Scheme, nominations etc.

• Address and Date of Birth details will be auto-populated from details available with Aadhaar.

• He will be required to provide a mobile number and email ID (Mandatory requirement).

• He will be required to Scan and upload the signature. Subscriber may also upload a scanned photograph, in case he/she wishes to replace the photo obtained from Aadhaar, if the Aadhaar photo is blurred or hazy.

• He will be required to make online payment (Minimum amount of Rs 500/-).

• After completion of this process, the PRAN will be generated instantly.

Subscriber will be required to print the form, paste photograph, affix signature and submit the physical form to CRA within a specified period of time while continuing contributing online.
A prospective subscriber can visit NPS Trust website www.npstrust.org.in and select NPS Online menu to register and contribute to NPS.
The complete information about eNPS is available on PFRDA website www.pfrda.org.in and also on NPS Trust website www.npstrust.org.in .

Through this facility, it is expected that the subscriber will have multiple advantages like seamless onboarding experience where he need not visit a Point of Presence and can register from anywhere through an internet connection, contribution with minimum cost of transaction and reduction in errors resulting from various manual activities.

Source:http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=0

Finance Ministry invites NJCA to discuss over 7th Pay commission recommendations on 19.2.2016

The Official Sources Close to the Finance Ministry told that a Meeting with National Joint Council of Action to be held on 19th February 2016 on the issues of 7th Pay Commission and Charter of Demands of NJCA.

It is informed that Convener, 7th Pay Commission Implementation Cell has fixed Meeting with NJCA on 19th February 2016 at North Block to discuss about the matters pertaining to 7th CPC recommendations and Charter of Demands of NJCA. The timing of the meeting scheduled itself has reveals its importance.

It is expected that, since the Meeting is scheduled before the Budget Session, some news about implementation of 7th pay commission may be announced in Budget or at least we are able to know the latest development about 7th cpc implementation after the Meeting.

An internal meeting of NJCA will also be held on 18.2.2016 before they attend the meeting with Finance Ministry.

Interest Rates of Small Saving Schemes to be recalibrated w.e.f. 1.4.2016

Press Information Bureau 
Government of India
Ministry of Finance

16-February-2016 19:10 IST

Interest Rates of Small Saving Schemes to be recalibrated w.e.f. 1.4.2016 on a Quarterly Basis to align the small saving interest rates with the market rates of the relevant Government securities;

Interest rate on savings schemes based on laudable Social Development or Social Security Goals including Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme and the Monthly Income Scheme left untouched by the Government. 

            The National Savings Schemes (NSSs) regulated by the Ministry of Finance offer complete security of investment combined with high attractive returns. These schemes also act as instruments of financial inclusion especially in the geographically inaccessible areas due to their implementation primarily through the Post Offices, which have reach far and wide. 

            The small savings interest rates are perceived to limit the banking sector’s ability to lower deposit rates in response to the monetary policy of the Reserve Bank of India.  In the context of easing the transmission of the lower interest rates in the economy, the Government also has to take a comprehensive view on the social goals of certain National Small Savings Schemes.  Accordingly, it has been decided that the following shall be implemented with effect from 1.4.2016 with regard to National Savings Schemes:

  1.  The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme and the Monthly Income Scheme are savings schemes based on laudable social development or social security goals.  Hence, the interest rate and spread that these schemes enjoy over the G-sec rate of comparable maturity viz., of 75 bps, 100 bps and 25 bps respectively have been left untouched by the Government. 

 2.  Similarly the spread of 25 bps that long term instruments, such as the 5 yr Term Deposit, 5 year National Saving Certificates and Public Provident Fund (PPF) currently enjoy over G-Sec of comparable maturity, have been left untouched as these schemes are particularly relevant to the self-employed professional and salaried classes.  This will encourage long term savings.

 3.  The 25 bps spread that 1 yr., 2yr. and 3 yr. term deposits, KVPs and 5 yr Recurring Deposits have over comparable tenure Government securities, shall stand removed w.e.f. April 1, 2016 to make them closer in interest rates to the similar instruments of the banking sector.  This is expected to help the economy move to a lower overall interest rate regime eventually and thereby help all, particularly low-income and salaried classes.

4.  The interest rates of all small saving schemes would be recalibrated w.e.f. 1.4.2016 on a quarterly basis as given under, to align the small saving interest rates with the market rates of the relevant Government securities;

Sr. No.	Quarter for which rate of interest would be effective	Date on which the revision would be notified	Rate of interest to be based on FIMMDA month end G-Sec. rate pertaining to
1.	April to June	15th March	Dec.-Jan.-Feb.
2.	July to September	15th June	Mar.-Apr.-May.
3.	October to December	15th September	Jun.-Jul.-Aug.
4.	January to March	15th December	Sep.-Oct.-Nov.

       5.   The compounding of interest which is biannual in the case of 10 yr National Saving Certificate (discontinued since 20-12-2015), 5 yr National Saving Certificate and Kisan Vikas Patra, shall be done on an annual basis from 1.4.16.

     6.        Premature closure of PPF accounts shall be permitted in genuine cases, such as cases of serious ailment, higher education of children etc,. This shall be permitted with a penalty of 1% reduction in interest payable on the whole deposit and only for the accounts having completed five years from the date of opening.

7.  In pursuance to the decision as mentioned in Para 4 above, the rates of interest applicable on various small savings schemes for the quarter from April to June 2016 effective from 1.4.2016 would be notified in March, 2016.

            The above changes have been brought with the objective of making the operation of National Saving Schemes market-oriented in the interest of overall economic growth of the country, even while protecting their social objectives and promoting long term savings.

 Source : http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=136468