Which small savings scheme is designed so that the amount invested doubles over the notified period?

The correct answer is B, 15 years. A PPF account runs for fifteen financial years counted from the end of the year in which it is opened, and after that it can be extended in blocks of five years, with or without fresh deposits. Option A, ten years, is wrong; no small savings scheme has a ten-year term, and the shorter certificates run for five years. Option C, twenty years, is wrong because an extended PPF account reaches twenty years only after one five-year block, which is a choice made by the holder and not the original maturity. Option D, twenty-one years, is the strongest distractor; that is the maturity of the Sukanya Samriddhi Account, counted from the date of opening. Fix fifteen with the PPF and twenty-one with Sukanya Samriddhi, because these two are the usual pair in a question.

The correct answer is C, 1,50,000 rupees. The Public Provident Fund Scheme allows a minimum of five hundred rupees and a maximum of one and a half lakh rupees in a financial year, the same ceiling that applies to the Sukanya Samriddhi Account and matching the limit of the deduction under section 80C. Option A, fifty thousand rupees, is wrong and far below the ceiling. Option B, one lakh rupees, is wrong but tempting because it was the limit in an earlier period before the ceiling was raised. Option D, two lakh rupees, is wrong; a two lakh ceiling belongs to the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate announced in the Union Budget for 2023-24, not to the PPF. If the deposit in a year exceeds the ceiling, the excess earns no interest and is simply returned.

The correct answer is B, 10 years. Under the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme a guardian may open an account in the name of a girl child who has not completed ten years of age, and a family may hold two such accounts, or three where twins or triplets are born. Option A, eight years, is wrong and is simply a lower number offered to unsettle the candidate. Option C, twelve years, is wrong; no age relaxation to twelve exists in the scheme rules. Option D, fourteen years, is wrong, although fourteen may be confused with the fifteen years for which deposits have to be made into the account. Remember the three numbers of this scheme in order: open before ten, deposit for fifteen years, mature at twenty-one years from opening.

The correct answer is C, 21 years. The account matures twenty-one years after the date of opening, and it may close earlier if the girl marries after completing eighteen years. Option A, fifteen years, is the commonest wrong choice because deposits into the account have to be made only for fifteen years; the balance continues to earn interest for the remaining period without further deposits. Option B, eighteen years, is wrong, although at eighteen the girl becomes eligible to withdraw half the balance or to close the account on marriage, which is where the confusion comes from. Option D, twenty-five years, is wrong and has no place in the scheme. The deposit period and the maturity period being different is exactly the point a paper setter tests here.

The correct answer is B, the Government Savings Promotion Act, 1873. This is the parent law under which the Public Provident Fund, National Savings Certificate, Sukanya Samriddhi, Senior Citizens' Savings and Kisan Vikas Patra schemes are notified, and it was called the Government Savings Banks Act, 1873 until the Finance Act of 2018 renamed it. Option A is wrong; the Banking Regulation Act of 1949 governs banking companies and their licensing and supervision, not post office savings schemes. Option C is wrong because the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934 constitutes the central bank and its functions. Option D is wrong since the Payment and Settlement Systems Act of 2007 gives the Reserve Bank authority over payment systems. The small savings schemes are run by the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Posts, not by the Reserve Bank.