The best rate the government pays anyone
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana is the small-savings scheme for a daughter — open it any time before she turns 10, and it pays the highest rate in the entire government basket (currently 8.2%, against PPF’s 7.1%), with the same sovereign guarantee and the same fully tax-free EEE treatment. For the specific job of funding a girl’s education and adulthood, it is the strongest guaranteed instrument in India.
How the 15-and-21 structure works
You deposit for only the first 15 years (₹250 to ₹1.5 lakh per financial year). The account then runs — and compounds — untouched until it matures 21 years from opening. Those six quiet years are the scheme’s gift: at the maximum deposit, the balance at year 15 is about ₹44.7 lakh, and the six no-deposit years grow it to roughly ₹71.8 lakh at 8.2%. The maturity formula this calculator implements (and its tests prove) is the PPF-style annuity-due for 15 years, compounded onward for six more. Like PPF, the deposit-before-5-April convention maximises interest, and the rate is floating — reset every quarter by the Finance Ministry, so a 21-year projection at one rate is a projection, not a promise.
Worked example
The full ₹1,50,000 every year for 15 years is ₹22.5 lakh out of pocket. At 8.2% held constant, maturity is about ₹71,82,119 — ₹49.3 lakh of it interest, all tax-free. Even ₹50,000 a year builds about ₹23.9 lakh. The same money in a taxable FD would owe slab tax on every rupee of interest along the way — the EEE label is worth lakhs here, not a footnote.
Rules that matter before you open one
One account per girl, at most two per family (twins excepted). The ₹1.5 lakh yearly cap is per account, and deposits earn 80C under the old regime (shared with your other 80C items). At 18, up to 50% of the balance can be withdrawn for her higher education; the account can also close on her marriage after 18. Miss the ₹250 minimum in a year and the account defaults — revivable with a ₹50 penalty per missed year. From age 18 the account is operated by the daughter herself; the money is legally hers, which is precisely the point. If the family relocates abroad and she ceases to be a resident, the account must close — the NRI rule is stricter than PPF’s.