The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, through an e-gazette notification issued on June 27, 2023, permitted all Public Sector Banks and eligible Private Sector Banks to implement and operationalise the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, 2023 (‘scheme ‘).
This aims at enabling enhanced access of the scheme for girls/women. With this, Mahila Samman Savings Certificate scheme will now be available for subscription in Post Offices, and eligible Scheduled Banks.
This was informed by the Ministry of Finance in a Press Release dated 30.06.2023.
The scheme has been in operation since April 1, 2023 through the Department of Post.
The notification specifies that all public sector banks and ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank Ltd. and IDBI Bank shall be authorised to operate the Mahila Samman Savings Scheme, 2023 with effect from 27.06.2023.
In order to operate the Scheme, the bank has to comply with the following conditions-
(i) There shall be dedicated software in the bank for operation and accounting of National Savings Schemes with specific functionality for each scheme;
(ii) The bank may manage the operations in accordance with the said Scheme, through on-line mode also in all branches that are on Core Banking Solution, subject to adequate security checks and the branches that are not on Core Banking Solution may operate the said Scheme manually;
(iii) All remittances shall be credited to the Government Account at the Reserve Bank of India, Central Accounts Section, Nagpur within one day in case of Core Banking Solution branches and three days in case of non-Core Banking Solution branches;
(iv) In case of delay in remittances beyond the period as specified in clause (iii), the Bank shall pay a penalty equal to the rate of interest payable to the depositor plus 0.5% in case of delays upto thirty days, and 1% in case of delays beyond thirty days;
(v) The Bank shall report various transactions under proper codes to the Reserve Bank of India, and the Ministry of Finance may levy penalty in case of failure on this count by the Bank.
(vi) The Bank shall, subject to the reasonable justification furnished to the Central Government, declare in advance the list of branches that shall not operate any of the National Savings Schemes as mentioned in clause(i) above;
(vii) In case of any pecuniary liability arising from the failure of the Bank to perform in accordance with the provisions of the said Scheme, the Bank shall be liable to bear the liability, in addition to being liable to be deauthorised to operate National Savings Schemes;
(viii) In case of any amount including penalties, becoming due from any Bank under these terms and conditions, the Central Government shall realise the amount from the Bank; and
(ix) Every Bank shall submit a periodic reports or any other requisite information from time to time to the Central Government concerning the deposits of subscription and withdrawals under the said Scheme.
The Central Government has made a number of efforts to secure the political, social, and economic advancement of women through a variety of planned initiatives. In continuation of these efforts, Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, 2023 scheme was announced in the Union Budget FY 2023-24 by the Central Government to provide financial security to every girl and woman in India.
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Full text of the scheme-Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, 2023
Key Features of the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, 2023.
● Provides attractive and secured investment option to all girls and women
● An account can be opened under this scheme on or before the March 31, 2025 for a tenure of two years
● The deposit made under MSSC will bear interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum which will be compounded quarterly. Therefore, the effective interest rate will be roughly 7.7 percent.
● Minimum of ₹1000 and any sum in multiple of 100 may be deposited within the maximum limit of ₹200,000.
● Maturity of the investment under this scheme is two years from the date of opening of the account under the scheme.
● It envisions flexibility not only in investment but also in partial withdrawal during the scheme tenor. The account holder is eligible to withdraw maximum up to 40% of the eligible balance in the scheme account.
Download the Press Release dated 30.06.2023 issued by the Ministry of Finance from here.
Read the full text of Notification No. 1/3/2023-NS dated 27.06.2023 Authorizing Banks to implement and operationalise Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, 2023
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(Department of Economic Affairs)
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 27th June, 2023
S.O. 2791(E).—In pursuance of the powers conferred by sub-clause (ii) of clause (g) of section 3 of the Government Savings Promotion Act, 1873 (5 of 1873), the Central Government hereby specifies that all public sector banks and ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank Ltd. and IDBI Bank shall be authorised to operate the Scheme namely, Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, 2023 with effect from the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette.
(2) The authorisation under this notification is subject to the following conditions, namely, that-
(i) there shall be dedicated software in the bank for operation and accounting of National Savings Schemes with specific functionality for each scheme;
(ii) the bank may manage the operations in accordance with the said Scheme, through on-line mode also in all branches that are on Core Banking Solution, subject to adequate security checks and the branches that are not on Core Banking Solution may operate the said Scheme manually;
(iii) all remittances shall be credited to the Government Account at the Reserve Bank of India, Central Accounts Section, Nagpur within one day in case of Core Banking Solution branches and three days in case of non-Core Banking Solution branches;
(iv) in case of delay in remittances beyond the period as specified in clause (iii), the Bank shall pay a penalty equal to the rate of interest payable to the depositor plus 0.5% in case of delays upto thirty days, and 1% in case of delays beyond thirty days;
(v) the Bank shall report various transactions under proper codes to the Reserve Bank of India, and the Ministry of Finance may levy penalty in case of failure on this count by the Bank.
(vi) the Bank shall, subject to the reasonable justification furnished to the Central Government, declare in advance the list of branches that shall not operate any of the National Savings Schemes as mentioned in clause(i) above;
(vii) in case of any pecuniary liability arising from the failure of the Bank to perform in accordance with the provisions of the said Scheme, the Bank shall be liable to bear the liability, in addition to being liable to be deauthorised to operate National Savings Schemes;
(viii) in case of any amount including penalties, becoming due from any Bank under these terms and conditions, the Central Government shall realise the amount from the Bank; and
(ix) every Bank shall submit a periodic reports or any other requisite information from time to time to the Central Government concerning the deposits of subscription and withdrawals under the said Scheme.
Explanation.- For the purposes of this notification, the expression “public sector bank” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the explanation to clause (23D) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961).
[F. No. 1/3/2023-NS]
ASHISH VACHHANI, Addl. Secy.
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