Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana vs Fixed Deposit – Which Is the Best Investment Plan for Your Daughter?

The right investment plan eliminates a parent’s worry about their daughter’s major life goals like higher education and marriage. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana and Fixed Deposit are two of the most preferred investment options to create a substantial fund for daughters.

But there are some major contrasts that exist between these schemes. Let’s first look at Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana:

• This is a government scheme, designed to focus on a secure future for the girl child. It can be availed only by a girl of less than 10 years of age. The parents, or legal guardians, of the girl can open a savings account in their daughter’s name under this scheme at designated banks or at a post office.

• The depositor gets the full fund amount only once his/her daughter turns 21 or when she is getting married, whichever is earlier. Only 50% of the total amount can be withdrawn once the girl turns 18. So for many years the money has to be locked in this scheme.

• A Sukanya Samriddhi account has to be opened with a minimum of Rs. 250, and the following deposits have to be in the multiples of 100. Not more than Rs. 1,50,000 can be deposited in a year.

• A girl cannot hold more than one account and a family cannot hold more than two accounts. Though, in the case of twin girls resulting from the first or second delivery, three accounts are allowed for the family.

A good fixed deposit account eliminates many of these limitations. For example, let’s see how Bajaj Finance FD stands against Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana:

• No age or gender restriction exists to open a Bajaj Finance FD. You can open this account even when your daughter is in her teens, or later when she herself feels the need for it.

• Bajaj Finance FD allows for the cumulative or non-cumulative withdrawal of interest. If your daughter’s aim is to accumulate a large corpus, she can grow for cumulative FD which has a single interest payout – at the time of maturity of the deposit. If she is looking for a regular source of income, a non-cumulative FD allows four interest payout options – monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly. The tenor of FD is also flexible, ranging from 1 to 5 years.

• In case of medical or any other emergency, your daughter can go for premature withdrawal of the whole amount from her deposit. She can also get a loan against Bajaj Finance FD in such cases.

• Your daughter can hold multiple FDs. With the technique of ‘laddering’, she can choose to open multiple FDs with successive maturity timelines aimed at different financial goals. She can also opt for the SDP feature of Bajaj Finance FD which allows investing in small monthly deposits in a series.

Unlike a Bajaj Finance FD account, a Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana account cannot be opened online. Prior to investing, a fixed deposit interest calculator tells you the precise maturity amount that your investment will reap. This helps you plan better for your daughter’s specific financial needs. With the highest credibility ratings offered by renowned credit rating agencies of India (CRISIL and ICRA), Bajaj Finance FD can be trusted to give assured returns for any amount and time frame.