Notification No. 318(E)

National Savings Certificates (Viii Issue) (Amendment) Rules, 2012 - Amendment in Rules 15 and 16

What this is

Notification No. 318(E) was published on 25 April 2012. Its subject is National Savings Certificates (Viii Issue) (Amendment) Rules, 2012 - Amendment in Rules 15 and 16.

This amends the Income-tax Rules. What it changes is the Rules, not the Act — and a rule can never take away what the section gives.

What it does

The Central Government, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 12 of the Government Savings Certificates Act, 1959, makes the National Savings Certificates (VIII Issue) (Amendment) Rules, 2012, amending rules 15 and 16 of the National Savings Certificates (VIII Issue) Rules, 1989. In rule 15, sub-rule (6A) is closed off by inserting "but before the 1st day of April, 2012," after "1st day of December, 2011", and a new sub-rule (6B) is inserted for certificates purchased on or after 1 April 2012: the maturity period is five years from the date of issue, the amount payable on encashment after maturity is Rs. 152.35 for a Rs. 100 denomination and proportionately for others, and interest accrues yearly at Rs. 8.78, 9.56, 10.40, 11.31 and 12.30 per Rs. 100 for the first to fifth years, the accruals up to the end of the fourth year being deemed reinvested and aggregated with the face value. In rule 16, sub-rule (4), clause (v) is similarly closed off and a new clause (vi) is inserted giving the premature encashment values for such certificates: Rs. 124.60, Rs. 129.26, Rs. 134.08 and Rs. 139.09 per Rs. 100 for the successive half-yearly bands from three years to five years.

Who it reaches

holders of National Savings Certificates (VIII Issue) purchased on or after 1 April 2012
post offices issuing and encashing such certificates
holders of certificates purchased between 1 December 2011 and 31 March 2012, whose rates are now closed off by the inserted words

The provisions it speaks to

Left, the provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as the instrument itself names it. Right, the section of the Income-tax Act, 2025 that the department’s own concordance maps it to — which is where the same ground is now covered.

Under the 1961 Act	Now
s.12	s.335, s.337, s.355

The instrument, as the Board published it

The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.

NATIONAL SAVINGS CERTIFICATES (VIII ISSUE) (AMENDMENT) RULES, 2012 - AMENDMENT IN RULES 15 AND 16
NOTIFICATION NO.GSR 318(E), DATED 25-4-2012
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 12 of the Government Savings Certificates Act, 1959 (46 of 1959), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules further to amend the National Savings Certificates (VIII Issue) Rules, 1989, namely:-
1. (1) These rules may be called the National Savings Certificates (VIII Issue) (Amendment Rules), 2012.
(2) They shall deemed to have come into force on the 1st day of April, 2012.
2. In the National Savings Certificates (VIII Issue) Rules, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as the said rules), in rule 15, -
(a) in sub-rule (6A), after the figures, letters and words "1st day of December, 2011", the words, figures and letters "but before the 1st day of April, 2012," shall be inserted;
(b) after sub-rule (6A) and the Table relating thereto, the following shall be inserted, namely:-
"(6B) Where a certificate has been purchased on or after the 1st day of April, 2012 the maturity period of a certificate of any denomination, shall be five years, commencing from the date of issue of the certificate. The amount inclusive of interest, payable on encashment of the certificate at any time after the expiry of its maturity period shall be Rs. 152.35 for denomination of Rs. 100 and at proportionate rate for any other denomination. The interest as specified in the table below shall accrue to the holder or holders of the certificate at the end of each year and the interest so accrued at the end of each year upto the end of the fourth year shall be deemed to have been reinvested on behalf of the holder and aggregated with the amount of face value of the certificate.
TABLE

The year for which interest accrues
Amount of interest (rupees) accruing on certificate of Rs. 100 denomination

First Year
8.78

Second Year
9.56

Third Year
10.40

Fourth Year
11.31

Fifth Year
12.30

Note : The amount of interest accruing on a certificate of any other denomination shall be proportionate to the amount specified in the Table above".
3. In rule 16 of the said rules, in sub-rule (4),-
(a) in clause (v), after the figures, letters and words "1st day of December, 2011", the words, figures and letters "but before the 1st day of April, 2012" shall be inserted;
(b) after clause (v) and the Table relating thereto, the following shall be inserted, namely:-
"(vi) If a certificate is encashed under sub-rule (1) after the expiry of three years from the date of certificate purchased on or after the 1st day of April, 2012, the amount payable, inclusive of interest accrued under rule 15 and after adjustment of discount, shall be as specified in the Table below for a certificate of Rs. 100 denomination and at a proportionate rate for a certificate of any other denomination.
TABLE

Period from the date of the certificate to the date of its encashment
Amount payable inclusive of interest (Rupees)

(1)
(2)

Three years or more, but less than three years and six months
124.60

Three years and six months or more, but less than four years
129.26

Four years or more, but less than four years and six months
134.08

Four years and six months or more, but less than five years
139.09

■■

From when

1 April 2012, retrospectively.

What to watch

The rules are deemed to have come into force on 1 April 2012, that is retrospectively from a date before the notification of 25 April 2012.
The new rates apply only to certificates purchased on or after 1 April 2012; earlier purchases stay on the older tables.
Interest accruing to the end of the fourth year is deemed reinvested, so the fifth year's figure is not reinvested.
Premature encashment under rule 16 is available only after three years from the date of the certificate.

Where you meet it

At the post office counter on purchase or encashment of a National Savings Certificate (VIII Issue), and in computing the interest deemed reinvested each year on such a certificate.

An example

Ours, not the Board’s: a worked case built from the rule the instrument sets, to show how it falls out.

A certificate of Rs. 1,000 denomination purchased on 10 May 2012 matures on 10 May 2017 and is payable at Rs. 1,523.50, the accrual for the first year being Rs. 87.80.

What it names

Rules it names. Rule 15, 16 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962. The 1962 Rules were replaced by the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which renumbered nearly everything: a rule number quoted here almost never means the same rule today.

On the same provision

Other instruments in this library that name the same provision of the 1961 Act. They are not necessarily still operative, and a later one may have replaced an earlier one without saying so.

Circular No. 1/2026 — Circular No. 0 l /2026 23 March 2026
Notification No. 16/2021 [F.No. 370142/03/2021-TPL] / GSR 175(E) — Ministry of Finance 12 March 2021
Circular No. 2/2020 — Circular No. 2/2020 [F. No. 197/55/2018-ITA-I], Dated 3-1-2020 3 January 2020
Circular No. 10/2019 — P.no. 197/55/2018-ITT\-1 22 May 2019
Notification No. 319(E) — National Savings Certificates (IX Issue) (Amendment) Rules, 2012 - Amendment in Rules 15 and 16 25 April 2012
G.S.R. 848(E) — National Savings Certificates (IX-Issue) Rules, 2011 29 November 2011

What a notification is. A notification is made under a power the Act itself gives, and within that power it is law — unlike a circular, which only binds the department. Its reach is the reach of the enabling provision and no wider, and the date it carries decides from when it works.

Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.