Nearly 30,000 accounts for girl children opened in Mysuru district

Sukanya Samruddhi Account is part of Beti Bachao campaign

The Sukanya Samruddhi Account scheme is meant to encourage parents to save for educating their daughters.— Photo: M.A. Sriram

The Centre’s new initiative – Sukanya Samruddhi Account – has evoked a good response in Mysuru district.

Launched as part of ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’, the special savings account can be opened in any post office in the name of girl children born on or after December 2, 2003. For the deposit in the account, 9.2 per cent interest is compounded once a year. And, the deposits made to the account get income tax relief under Section 80c.

Since the launch of the scheme in January till March-end, 22,450 accounts have been opened in Mysuru district. In April-May as many as 6,000-plus accounts have been opened, according to postal authorities here.The interest rate had been revised for 2015-16 from 9.1 percent to 9.2 percent.

D. Shivaiah, Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Mysuru division, told

The Hindu that the response to the initiative has been very encouraging. Details of girl children born after from December 2003 has been collected from the government departments to reach out to their parents, he added.

“We sent letters to parents of girl children with an appeal to open Sukanya Samruddhi Account in post offices near their residences and avail themselves of the benefits,” said Mr. Shivaiah.

The Department of Statistics in the Mysuru City Corporation gave us the data of 1.5 lakh children born since December 2003 till January 2015 in Mysuru and about 40,000 of them were girl children. “Based on this information, we evolved our publicity strategy and wrote letters to at least 20,000 parents for opening the account,” he explained.

According to IndiaPost, parent/guardian can open only one account in the name of one girl child and maximum of two accounts can be opened in the names of two girl children. The parent/guardian can open the account by submitting the child’s birth certificate along with their KYC documents.

Deposits have to be made for 14 years from the date of opening the account. However, the balance in the account will continue to earn interest. The account matures 21 years from the date of opening of the account.

In a financial year, the minimum deposits required to open the account is Rs. 1,000 and deposits can be made up to Rs. 1.5 lakh, he informed.

To a query, Mr. Shivaiah said 50 per cent of the deposited amount will be allowed to be withdrawn when the account holder turns 18.