Under Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, what is the maximum amount that can be deposited during a financial year ?

Correct — A, (a) ₹ 1·5 lakh. Sukanya Samriddhi is a small savings scheme, and its deposit rules are not in an Act but in a scheme notified under one. The governing instrument is the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme, 2019, notified in December 2019 under the Government Savings Promotion Act, 1873, which replaced the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Rules, 2016. Its deposit paragraph fixes three numbers together: an account is opened with a minimum of ₹250, further deposits are made in multiples of ₹50, and the total deposited in an account in a financial year may not exceed ₹1,50,000. The ceiling is not arbitrary — it is set at the aggregate deduction limit in section 80C of the Income-tax Act, 1961, so that a depositor who puts the maximum into the account can claim the whole of it, and the scheme has the exempt-exempt-exempt treatment in which the deposit is deductible and both the interest and the maturity proceeds are tax free. The consequence of overshooting is worth knowing because it is what an officer is asked about in practice: money deposited beyond the annual ceiling does not earn interest and may be withdrawn by the depositor at any time, rather than being refused at the counter or forfeited. Deposits may be made for fifteen years from the date of opening, while the account itself runs to maturity twenty-one years from opening, so the contribution window and the life of the account are different periods.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)₹ 1 lakh — One lakh is not a threshold anywhere in the scheme. The figures that do matter are ₹250 to open the account and as the minimum in a financial year, deposits in multiples of ₹50, and ₹1,50,000 as the annual ceiling. A round lakh is the kind of number that reads as an official limit precisely because it is round, which is what makes it useful as a distractor in a set of four rupee figures.
• (c)₹ 2 lakh — Two lakh corresponds to nothing in the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme, 2019 or in the rules it replaced. A depositor who wanted to put ₹2,00,000 into the account in one financial year would find that the last ₹50,000 earned no interest at all. Raising the ceiling above ₹1,50,000 would also break the alignment with the section 80C deduction that the scheme is designed around.
• (d)₹ 2·5 lakh — ₹2,50,000 is a familiar tax number — it is the basic exemption limit of the older income-tax regime — but it has nothing to do with this scheme, and importing it here is the likeliest route to marking this option. Nothing in the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme, 2019 uses two and a half lakh. Note also that this option and the keyed one are the two that print a decimal, and the booklet sets that decimal as a raised middle dot, so a hurried reader can misread ₹ 2·5 lakh and ₹ 1·5 lakh for each other.

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana is the small savings scheme created for the girl child under the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao initiative, and it is administered through post offices and authorised banks. An account is opened by a guardian in the name of a girl child who has not attained the age of ten years, and a family may hold not more than two such accounts, with a third permitted for twins or triplets on production of the relevant certificate. Deposits are made for fifteen years from the date of opening; the account matures on completion of twenty-one years from the date of opening, or earlier on the account holder's marriage after she has turned eighteen, which may be done within a window around the date of marriage. Partial withdrawal of up to half the balance standing at the end of the preceding financial year is allowed for the account holder's higher education once she has attained eighteen or passed the tenth standard. The rate of interest is not fixed in the scheme; it is notified quarterly by the Ministry of Finance along with the other small savings rates, and it is compounded annually. The rules on the deposit itself are the tightest part of the scheme and the part examiners quarry: ₹250 to open, ₹250 as the minimum in a financial year, multiples of ₹50 thereafter, ₹1,50,000 as the maximum in a financial year, and no interest on anything above that maximum. The ceiling asked about in this item is still the ceiling today; what has been eased over the scheme's life is the floor, which now stands at ₹250 a year.

Key facts

• Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme, 2019, notified in December 2019 under the Government Savings Promotion Act, 1873, replaced the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Rules, 2016 and now governs the account.
• Maximum deposit in a financial year: ₹1,50,000; minimum ₹250 to open and ₹250 in a financial year; subsequent deposits in multiples of ₹50.
• The ₹1,50,000 ceiling matches the aggregate deduction limit under section 80C of the Income-tax Act, 1961; the scheme has exempt-exempt-exempt tax treatment.
• A deposit in excess of the annual ceiling earns no interest and may be withdrawn by the depositor at any time.
• The account is opened by a guardian in the name of a girl child who has not attained ten years of age; not more than two accounts are allowed in a family, with a third permitted for twins or triplets.
• Deposits may be made for fifteen years from the date of opening; the account matures on completion of twenty-one years from the date of opening.
• Up to fifty per cent of the balance at the end of the preceding financial year may be withdrawn for higher education once the account holder attains eighteen or passes the tenth standard.
• The interest rate is not written into the scheme — it is notified quarterly by the Ministry of Finance with the other small savings rates and is compounded annually.

Common traps

• Assuming a numeric option set climbs from (a) to (d). On this item it does not, and the largest figure printed is not the answer.
• Misreading the raised middle dot. ₹ 1·5 lakh and ₹ 2·5 lakh are the two options carrying a decimal, and they sit at opposite ends of the printed list.
• Confusing the annual ceiling with the deposit period. ₹1,50,000 is the yearly maximum; fifteen years is how long deposits may be made; twenty-one years is when the account matures.
• Thinking an excess deposit is rejected or forfeited. It simply earns no interest and can be taken back at any time.
• Carrying an income-tax figure into a savings scheme. ₹2,50,000 is a tax exemption limit, not a Sukanya Samriddhi limit.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme, an account may be opened by the guardian in the name of a girl child who has not attained the age of :

  • (a)8 years
  • (b)10 years
  • (c)12 years
  • (d)14 years

  Answer(b) 10 years

• practice — not a real PYQ

  A Sukanya Samriddhi account matures on the completion of how many years from the date of opening of the account ?

  • (a)15 years
  • (b)18 years
  • (c)21 years
  • (d)25 years

  Answer(c) 21 years