Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) interest rate April-June 2026: What will fresh deposits earn?

The government has kept the SCSS interest rate for the April-June quarter unchanged. This means that senior citizens can continue to enjoy the 8.2% interest on fresh SCSS investments.

The SCSS interest rate for the January-March quarter of FY 2025-26 was announced by the Finance Ministry on December 31, 2025. The government had then also decided to keep the interest rate unchanged at 8.2%.

What is SCSS?

SCSS is a small savings scheme exclusively available to senior citizens. The scheme's 8.2% interest is currently higher than fixed deposit interest rates offered by leading banks like State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, and others.

The scheme is popular among senior citizens and retirees for offering stable and guaranteed returns. Since April 1, 2023, the SCSS interest rate has remained unchanged at 8.2%.

The SCSS account currently offers a guaranteed periodic interest income on deposits up to ₹30 lakh per person.

Who can invest in SCSS?

A senior citizen aged 60 years or above can invest in SCSS. The benefits of this scheme can also be availed by retired civilian employees above 55 years and below 60 years, and retired defence employees aged above 50 years and below 60 years.

The savings scheme for senior citizens is governed by the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme Rules 2019. Senior citizens can open SCSS accounts either individually or jointly with their spouses.

In joint SCSS accounts, the total amount of the deposit is attributed to the first account holder.

How much can be invested under SCSS?

A senior citizen can invest up to ₹30 lakh in all his/her SCSS accounts. Senior citizen couples can invest ₹30 lakh each in their separate SCSS accounts.

The interest on SCSS deposits is payable from the date of deposit to March 31/September 30/December 31 in the first instance, and thereafter, interest is payable on April 1, July 1, October 1, and January 1. (Read more details).

Small savings schemes like SCSS track the yields of G-secs of comparable maturities in the secondary market, according to the recommendations of the Shyamala Gopinath Committee. Set up in 2010, this committee recommended considering the secondary market yield of Central Government Securities (G-Sec) of comparable maturities topped with a 0.25% spread to decide the interest rates for various small savings schemes.

Accordingly, the SCSS interest rate can be decided based on the prevailing 5-year G-Sec yield in the secondary market plus 0.25%. However, the final decision to revise the small savings scheme interest rate lies in the hands of the government, which doesn't always strictly follow the committee's recommendations.