eCircular

Department: GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS

DEPARTMENT
Sl.No.: 331/2023 - 24
Circular No.: NBG/GAD-GBU/14/2023 - 24
Date: Mon 17 Jul 2023

The Chief General Manager,

State Bank of India,
Local Head Office,
All Circles / CCG / CAG / SARG / BUs

Madam / Dear Sir,

MAHILA SAMMAN SAVINGS CERTIFICATE, 2023

Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India, has issued

notification on Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, 2023 vide their Notification No.
G.S.R.237 (E) dated 31.03.2023. These rules have come into effect from 01.04.2023
(Copy enclosed as Annexure A).

2. The salient features of the Scheme are detailed below:

1 Eligibility An application for opening an account under this Scheme shall be

made by a woman for herself, or by the guardian on behalf of a
minor girl to the Branch, on or before 31st March 2025.
2 Type of An account opened under this Scheme shall be a single holder
accounts type account.
3 KYC PAN and Aadhaar of the customer (applicable to guardian only, if
Documents account opened on behalf of a minor). Also refer to e- Circular No.
NBG/GAD-GBU/13/2023-24 dated 5th July 2023.
4 Deposits  An individual may open any number of accounts subject to
the maximum limit for deposit specified as below and a time
gap of three months shall be maintained between the
existing account and the opening of another account.
 Minimum of Rupees one thousand and any sum in multiples
of Rupees one hundred may be deposited in an account and
no subsequent deposit shall be allowed in that account.
 Maximum limit of Rupees two lakh (Rs. 2,00,000) shall be
deposited in an account or accounts held by an account holder.
  At customer level, the maximum amount of deposit cannot
exceed Rs. 2,00,000.
5 Interest  The deposits made under this Scheme shall bear interest at
the rate of 7.5 percent per annum.
 Interest shall be compounded on quarterly basis and
credited to the account.
 The interest payable to the account holder in respect of any
account opened or deposit made which is not in consonance with
the provisions of this Scheme shall be payable at the rate
applicable to the Post Office Savings Account.
6 Payment  The deposit shall mature on completion of two years
on maturity from the date of the deposit and the eligible balance may be
paid to the account holder on an application submitted to
the Branch on maturity.
 In calculating the maturity value, any amount in
fraction of a Rupee shall be rounded off to the nearest
Rupee and for this purpose, any amount of fifty paisa or
more shall be treated as one Rupee and any amount less
than fifty paisa shall be ignored.
7 Deduction The TDS will be applicable on the scheme as per IT Rule Section
of TDS 194A (Gazette notification dated 16.05.2023 enclosed as
Annexure B.)
8 Withdrawal  The account holder shall be eligible to withdraw
from maximum up to forty per cent. of the Eligible Balance once
account after the expiry of one year from the date of opening of the
account but before the maturity of the account.
 In case of an account opened on behalf of a minor
girl, the guardian may apply for withdrawal for the benefit of
the minor girl by submitting the certificate to the Branch.
9 Premature  The account shall not be closed before maturity
closure of except in the following cases:
account.
a) On the death of the account holder
b) Where the Post Office or the Bank concerned is
satisfied, in cases of extreme compassionate grounds such
as medical support in life-threatening diseases of the
account holder or death of the guardian, that the operation
or continuation of the account is causing undue hardship to
the account holder, it may, after complete documentation,
by order and for reasons to be recorded in writing, allow
premature closure of the account.
 Where an account is prematurely closed as detailed
above, interest on principal amount shall be payable at the
rate applicable to the Scheme for which the account has
been held.
  Premature closure of an account may be permitted,
any time after the completion of six months from the date of
opening of an Account on an application in Form-4, for any
reason other than provided above, and in which case the
balance as stood from time to time in the account shall be
eligible only for the interest rate less by two per cent than
the rate specified in this Scheme.
 In calculating the maturity value, any amount in
fraction of a Rupee shall be rounded off to the nearest
Rupee and for this purpose, any amount of fifty paisa or
more shall be treated as one Rupee and any amount less
than fifty paisa shall be ignored.
10 Nomination Nomination facility is available in the account
. facility
11 Forms to Attached as Annexure C
. be used for Form-1 (Application for opening of accounts)
MSSC
2023 Form-2 (Application for closure of accounts)
Form-3 (Application for withdrawal)
Form-4 (Application for premature closure of account)

3. Further, Branches need to ensure following points during operation of the Scheme:

a. Currently, the option of multiple Nomination with features like share of

entitlement, Nature of entitlement are under development in CBS at GITC and
expected to be made available in CBS by 30.09.2023. Branches need to
maintain Nomination Register for such cases and feed the details of multiple
nomination in CBS, whenever it is made available in CBS.

b. Branches to ensure proper KYC, whenever minor becomes major, as per Bank’s
guideline for all products of our Bank. Branches to refer e- Circular No.
NBG/GAD-GBU/13/2023-24 dated 5th July 2023 related with requirement of
OVDs during KYC for Small Savings Scheme Products.

c. For the minors above the age of 10, if a consistent signature can be made, the
same may be obtained as additional information for comparison purposes, if the
deposit is to be paid after the minor attains majority.

d. In the event of death of the Guardian, the succeeding guardian shall be eligible to
operate the account of the Minor or the person of unsound mind, as the case
may be as mentioned in Para no. 10, page no. 35 of Govt. Savings Promotion
General Rule, 2018, vide G.S.R.N. 1003 (E) dated 05.10.2018 mentioned in
Annexure- D.

e. Documentary evidence supporting partial withdrawal/pre-mature closure must be

kept on record.
 f. Operating unit should be vigilant in identification of customers in line with existing
AML/KYC guidelines and any adverse transaction be immediately reported to
AML-CFT cell.
g. The interest payable to the account holder in respect of any account opened or
deposit made which is not in consonance with the provisions of this scheme shall
be payable at the rate applicable to the Post Office Savings Account. There may
be some cases, where, the accounts may be opened in contravention of rule, like
exceeding limit of Rupees two lacs, opening more than two accounts within 3
months (For example, one account in our bank and other account in any other
institution).

h. The documents required to be submitted on death of the guardian during

settlement of deceased claim, procedure to be followed by the Branches has
been elaborated in Govt. Savings Promotion General Rule, 2018, vide G.S.R.N.
1003 (E) dated 05.10.2018 mentioned in Annexure- D.

i. Branches are not required to send account opening forms along with KYC
documents to LCPC. However, New CIF (Customer Identification Form) should
invariably be sent to LCPC for Scrutiny.
4. Branches may please be guided by Govt. Savings Promotion General Rule, 2018,
vide G.S.R.N. 1003 (E) dated 05.10.2018 (Copy enclosed as Annexure- D) for
operational matters like transfer of accounts, Nomination, Deceased claim settlement,
etc. which are not covered in the GOI Notification for MSSC 2023. GOI has further
issued Notification dated 31.03.2023 related to identity documents required, (Copy
enclosed as Annexure- E).

5. The required enablers for operation of the scheme through CBS have been
developed. Accordingly, all Branches are authorized to open the MSSC, 2023 accounts.
The development in CBS for different features of the Scheme is being carried out in two
phases at GITC:

 The features of Scheme detailed in 1st phase will be available to the users since
inception of scheme in CBS. The features like Account opening as per eligibility,
TDS deduction, Check of Maximum Limit at CIF level, Maturity instructions,
Premature Closure if death (without penalty), Commission Calculation,
Reconciliation Reports and Interest Capitalization at the frequency of 3 Months
have been made available in 1st Phase of development.

 However, features like withdrawal from the account, premature closure (with
penalty), Transfer of accounts and Backdated Account Opening in CBS will be
made available in CBS in due course.
  Further, the Branches need to raise request in SCORE, if any technical issue is
being faced by them during operation of the Mahila Samman Savings Scheme-
2023.

 The navigation path for opening of accounts in CBS is as under:

CIF Type – 010203 (Individual Public - Others), Gender Code - Female

SCR: 002000pmt CIF: Create Account Prompt

Enter CIF number of female customer only and transmit

Select product 006, Currency: INR, Product 1421-1151,

Acct Segment Code: 5006

Product already mapped with Branch Mirror BGL4697897 & BGL 2399825
for auto sweep.

The detailed screen shots for account opening is enclosed as Annexure- F.

6. The Branches are advised to display features of the Scheme in the banking hall and
make wide publicity of the Scheme among the masses.

7. Please bring the contents of the Circular to the notice of all the concerned operating
functionaries.

Yours faithfully,

(Shalini Kacker)

Chief General Manager (GBSSU)

Encl.: As above