National Savings profit rates cut: Behbood down to Rs 1,050 a month per lakh

The Central Directorate of National Savings has cut the profit rate on almost every scheme it sells. The new sheet took effect on 4 September 2026 and is the one being applied at every National Savings Centre counter now.

Behbood Savings Certificates, the scheme widows, senior citizens and persons with disabilities live on, now pay Rs 1,050 a month on each Rs 100,000, down from Rs 1,080. That works out to 12.60 percent a year against 12.96 percent before. The Pensioners' Benefit Account and the Shuhada Family Welfare Account pay exactly the same rate.

What every scheme pays from 4 September

Short Term Savings Certificates are the odd case. The 3-month and 6-month tenors both drop to 10.86 percent, but the 12-month tenor goes up to 11.28 percent, paying Rs 11,280 on Rs 100,000 held for a year.

What the cut costs you in rupees

A widow holding Rs 2,000,000 in Behbood was getting Rs 21,600 a month. She now gets Rs 21,000, a loss of Rs 600 a month or Rs 7,200 a year.

A pensioner sitting at the Rs 7,500,000 Behbood ceiling drops from Rs 81,000 a month to Rs 78,750, which is Rs 27,000 less over a year.

Someone with Rs 1,000,000 in a Regular Income Certificate goes from Rs 9,600 a month to Rs 9,300.

Put the schemes side by side on the National Savings comparison, which is updated to this sheet. Our National Savings calculator is still running the 18 July rates and is being moved to the 4 September ones.

Defence Savings still triples your money, just later

Defence Savings Certificates run for 10 years and the profit compounds. Rs 100,000 bought today is worth Rs 110,000 after one year, Rs 163,000 after five and Rs 300,000 at maturity. On the previous sheet the same Rs 100,000 matured at Rs 309,000, so the cut costs a 10-year holder Rs 9,000 per lakh.

Rates on National Savings are fixed at the date of purchase. Certificates you already hold keep the rate printed on them. The new sheet applies only to fresh purchases and to reinvestment, which matters if a certificate of yours is maturing this month.

The tax side has not changed

Behbood, the Pensioners' Benefit Account and the Shuhada Family Welfare Account still take no withholding tax on profit and are exempt from Zakat deduction. Every other scheme has withholding deducted at 15 percent for filers and 35 percent for non-filers, so a non-filer on a Regular Income Certificate actually takes home Rs 604 a month per lakh, not Rs 930. If you are not on the Active Taxpayer List, that gap is the single biggest number on this page.

The direction follows the State Bank, which has held the policy rate at 11.50 percent. National Savings rates move with the government's own cost of borrowing, and they have now been cut three times since June, when Behbood briefly paid Rs 1,100 a month.