In February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023-24 with the aim of empowering women and girls financially. Under this budget, she introduced the Women Empowerment Savings Certificate Scheme (WESS). The implementation of this scheme is being carried out by the Post Office. The objective of this scheme is to provide a secure and good investment option for women and girls of all ages. The scheme is valid for only two years, and women can invest in it until the year 2025.
What is the minimum investment amount?
In this Post Office scheme, women can invest a minimum of 1000 rupees. The maximum investment limit for the two-year period is up to 2 lakh rupees. The Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance gave the authority to all government banks and four private banks to implement and operate the scheme through an e-gazette message on June 27, 2023. Additionally, this scheme is available in all 1.59 lakh post offices.
How to open an account?
Women can open an account in the Women Empowerment Savings Certificate Scheme (WESS) by providing their Aadhar card, PAN card, KYC documents, and a photograph. Women receive a benefit of 7.5% interest annually on their account under this scheme. Additionally, they can make partial withdrawals from the account in case of emergencies and also close the account before its maturity. After six months of opening the account, a 2% penalty is applied for closing the account. Furthermore, up to 40% of the remaining amount can be withdrawn after one year. In two years, one can earn interest of up to a maximum of 32,000 rupees under this scheme.
Number of accounts opened so far
According to the Central Finance Minister Pankaj Chaudhary’s statement in the Lok Sabha, approximately 14.8 lakh accounts have already been opened under the Women Empowerment Savings Certificate Scheme, with a total deposit of 8,630 crore rupees.
