Every rate below is the notified Q2 FY 2026-27 rate. Every tax number is worked to the rupee.
Short answer: parked across SCSS, POMIS and senior-citizen FDs at today's notified rates, a ₹30 Lakh corpus pays about ₹20,500 a month (₹2,46,000 a year) without touching principal. Income tax on it: nil.
Rates are for Q2 FY 2026-27 (Jul-Sep 2026), unchanged for the 10th straight quarter · New tax regime, FY 2026-27 · Figures are indicative, as of August 2026
This is a reference allocation, not advice — your health costs, family support and risk appetite move the pieces. What does not move is the arithmetic.
| Where it sits | Amount | Rate | Interest / year | Paid out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCSS — at the ₹30 lakh cap | ₹30,00,000 | 8.2% | ₹2,46,000 | Quarterly |
| Total | ₹30,00,000 | — | ₹2,46,000 | ≈ ₹20,500/month |
SCSS pays quarterly simple interest; POMIS pays monthly; FD assumes a large-bank senior rate of 7.25% (typical Aug 2026 range 6.75–7.30%). SCSS and POMIS rates are government-notified for Q2 FY 2026-27.
Interest of ₹2,46,000 against the new regime: nil — the interest stays below the ₹4 lakh basic exemption of the new regime, so no tax is due even before any rebate.
TDS is a separate machine from tax. Any single payer (a bank, or the post office as one payer) that credits you more than ₹1 lakh of interest in the year must deduct 10% — even when your final tax is nil. Form 121, filed at the start of the year with each payer, switches that deduction off when your liability is zero.
SCSS is the best guaranteed rate available to a retail investor in India today, and ₹30 lakh is the most one person can hold in it. A ₹30 lakh corpus is therefore the only level where the textbook answer is genuinely one line: put all of it in SCSS, collect ₹61,500 every quarter for five years, and extend.
The ceiling is per person, not per family. A couple where both spouses are 60+ can hold ₹30 lakh each — ₹60 lakh at 8.2% — before a rupee needs to go anywhere else. If your corpus is heading past ₹30 lakh and your spouse is eligible, opening the second SCSS account is worth more than any FD comparison you will ever do.
SCSS pays simple interest quarterly — nothing compounds unless you reinvest the payout yourself. If you do not need the full ₹20,500 a month, sweep the surplus into a recurring deposit; otherwise a 5-year SCSS quietly pays out ₹12.3 lakh of interest that never earned anything further. And the rate is locked for your 5-year term at whatever prevails on the day you open — today's 8.2% has held since April 2024, but the lock works both ways at extension time.
Three resets are built in: SCSS matures at year 5 (then extends in 3-year blocks at the then-prevailing rate), POMIS matures at year 5, and each FD at its own term. Small-savings rates are reviewed every quarter — they have not moved since January 2024, but each reset re-prices your income at whatever is then notified. Revisit the ladder at every maturity, not every headline.
About ₹20,500 a month at current notified rates, using SCSS at 8.2%, POMIS at 7.4% and senior bank FDs around 7.25% — without spending principal.
Total interest is about ₹2,46,000 a year. nil — the interest stays below the ₹4 lakh basic exemption of the new regime, so no tax is due even before any rebate.
Yes, wherever one payer credits over ₹1 lakh of interest in the year — unless you file Form 121 (the declaration that replaced Form 15H from 1 April 2026) with that payer at the start of the financial year.
No. SCSS locks its rate for your 5-year term, POMIS for its term, FDs until maturity. Each renewal re-prices at the rate then notified — the government reviews small-savings rates every quarter.
Related: All corpus levels · Senior FD rates · Form 121 · FD Calculator
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Written and checked by the PaisaSamajh editorial desk · Last reviewed: 24 August 2026 · How we check this →