SSY vs PPF: Which Should You Open for Your Child?
Written by lemmatools Editorial Team · Last updated: · 5 min read
The head-to-head
- Rate: SSY 8.2% vs PPF 7.1% — both revised quarterly, both compounded annually, SSY consistently ~1 point higher.
- Eligibility: SSY needs a daughter under 10; PPF is open to everyone.
- Deposits: both ₹1.5L/year max (SSY minimum ₹250, PPF ₹500). Both qualify for 80C in the old regime; both are fully tax-free (EEE).
- Term: SSY runs 21 years from opening with deposits for 15; PPF is 15 years, extendable indefinitely in 5-year blocks.
- Flexibility: PPF allows loans from year 3 and partial withdrawals from year 7; SSY allows only the 50% education withdrawal at 18.
- Ownership: an SSY account becomes your daughter’s at 18. PPF stays yours.
What the rate gap is worth
On ₹1.5 lakh a year for 15 years, SSY at 8.2% matures to roughly ₹71.8 lakh at year 21, while a PPF extended to the same 21-year window at 7.1% reaches about ₹61 lakh — a gap of ₹10 lakh from a single percentage point. If the money is genuinely earmarked for a daughter’s education or marriage, the higher rate plus the enforced lock-in makes SSY the stronger vehicle. Run both in the SSY and PPF calculators with your own deposit level.
The honest verdict
Choose SSY when the goal is specifically your daughter’s future and you will not need the money earlier: it pays more and its rigidity protects the goal from raids. Choose PPF when you need the corpus to stay in your control — for your own retirement, with loan and withdrawal options as escape hatches. Many households sensibly run both, splitting the ₹1.5L of 80C-eligible savings: the split then becomes a question of whose goal is larger, hers or yours. What neither scheme should carry is the growth burden of a 15-year goal on its own — pair either with an equity SIP via the goal SIP calculator for the inflation-beating share.