Investors who have opted to invest in small savings schemes such as Public Provident Fund (PPF), Senior Citizens Savings Scheme (SCSS), National Savings Certificate and other post office schemes should ensure that they have submitted the required documents.

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Not submitting appropriate documents for these savings schemes may lead to a few problems including the freezing of the account. The investors may also not receive the benefits like the interest returns.

Why would your PPF, NSC or SCSS account be frozen?

Your small savings account could be frozen if you fail to submit the Aadhaar number to the bank or the post office branch latest by September 30, 2023. The Aadhaar card serves as one of the most essential documents for investing in these small savings schemes. Therefore, failure to submit the Aadhaar details could restrict the benefits of these schemes. The bank or post office may freeze the savings account until and unless you provide the Aadhaar number by the September 30 deadline.

Ministry of Finance's Announcement on small savings schemes

On March 31, the Ministry of Finance announced that Aadhaar and PAN would be mandatory if one wants to invest in small saving schemes like PPF, NSC, or SCSS. Moreover, the announcement also mandated the provision of Aadhaar number by existing investors. The notice mentioned, "If a depositor has already opened an account and has not submitted his Aadhaar number to the Accounts Office, he shall do so within a period of six months with effect from the 1st day of April 2023."

The six-month period referred to in the above-mentioned notice ends on September 30. Therefore, if you think that you have already taken advantage of the scheme and won't face problems, you might be wrong. So, in order to save your savings account from getting frozen, please submit your Aadhaar number before the due date.

What happens if your savings account is frozen?

Here are some consequences that the investor would face in the event of a frozen savings account:

1) Interest due won't be credited to the beneficiary's bank account.

2) Investors might be barred from making deposits into their savings accounts of schemes like PPF, NSC and others. 

3) The investor can’t receive the scheme maturity amount using the same account details.

On the other hand, while the PAN is a vital document, investors have more time to submit the details. They can do so within two months after any of the below-mentioned events take place.

  • The account balance exceeds Rs 50,000.
  • The total of all credits in the savings account in any financial year is over Rs 1 lakh.
  • The total of all transfers or withdrawals made from the account within a month is more than Rs 10,000.