The Senior Citizen Savings Scheme is the highest-paying government-guaranteed instrument available to anyone over 60 in India. It pays quarterly, carries an 80C deduction, and allows a substantially larger deposit than most small savings schemes.
This calculator works out your quarterly payout, total interest across the five-year term, and what the deposit is worth after tax.
How SCSS pays out
Like POMIS, SCSS pays simple interest rather than compounding it. The difference is frequency — payouts arrive quarterly on fixed dates rather than monthly — and the rate, which has consistently sat above other small savings options.
Quarterly payout = (Deposit × Annual rate) ÷ 4
- ·At 8.2%, a ₹30,00,000 deposit earns ₹2,46,000 a year
- ·Paid as ₹61,500 every quarter
- ·Total interest across five years = ₹12,30,000
- ·Principal returned in full at maturity
Who qualifies
- ·Age 60 and above: The standard route. No other condition applies.
- ·Age 55 to 60: Available to those who retired on superannuation or under a voluntary retirement scheme, provided the account is opened within one month of receiving retirement benefits.
- ·Age 50 and above: Available to retired defence personnel, subject to the same one-month condition.
- ·Not eligible: NRIs and Hindu Undivided Families cannot open an SCSS account.
The one-month window is strict
If you are retiring before 60 and intend to use SCSS, the account must be opened within a month of receiving your retirement benefits. Miss that window and you wait until you turn 60. It is a genuinely easy deadline to lose track of during the administrative fog of retiring.
Limits, term and tax
Interest is fully taxable at slab rate. A separate deduction is available under section 80TTB for interest income of senior citizens, which can shelter a portion of it — worth checking the current limit against your total interest across all deposits.
- ·Maximum deposit: ₹30 lakh, raised from ₹15 lakh in April 2023. The limit is per individual across all SCSS accounts, so a couple who both qualify can hold ₹60 lakh between them.
- ·Minimum: ₹1,000, in multiples of ₹1,000.
- ·Term: Five years, extendable once by a further three. The extension takes the rate prevailing at the date of extension, not your original rate.
- ·80C deduction: The deposit qualifies under section 80C, within the overall ₹1.5 lakh ceiling. POMIS offers no such benefit — a meaningful edge in the first year.
- ·TDS: Deducted where annual interest exceeds the threshold. Form 15H can be submitted if your total income is below the taxable limit.
A worked comparison against POMIS
For someone who qualifies for both, the arithmetic is rarely close. Take ₹9,00,000 — the POMIS single-account ceiling — placed in each.
| SCSS at 8.2% | POMIS at 7.4% | |
|---|---|---|
| Payout frequency | Quarterly | Monthly |
| Annual interest | ₹73,800 | ₹66,600 |
| Total over 5 years | ₹3,69,000 | ₹3,33,000 |
| 80C deduction | Yes | No |
| Maximum deposit | ₹30 lakh | ₹9 lakh |
| Age requirement | 60+ (or 55+ on VRS) | None |
The sensible order for an eligible senior
Fill the SCSS ceiling first — higher rate, 80C benefit, larger capacity. Use POMIS for whatever remains, since it needs no age qualification and pays monthly rather than quarterly. Beyond both, compare against a bank fixed deposit on post-tax return rather than headline rate.
Premature closure
The first-year clawback is harsher than POMIS, where earlier payouts are kept. On death of the account holder no penalty applies, and the account earns the savings account rate from the date of death until closure.
- ·Within one year: Permitted, but all interest already paid is recovered from the principal.
- ·One to two years: 1.5% of the deposit is deducted.
- ·After two years: 1% of the deposit is deducted.
Last reviewed August 2, 2026 · How we check our calculators