What are the financial benefits for Senior Citizens

What are the financial benefits for Senior Citizens?

As the retirement of individual approaches, he/she gets more conscious of saving and spending of the income. Retirement comes along with many pros and cons, and so does old age. Indian government supports the senior citizens of India financially by providing them with tax benefits, higher interest rates, and rebates.

In India, a person is eligible for all the benefits as a senior citizen as soon as he/she attains an age of 60. For many other countries, the age of 65 is considered for the entitlement as a senior citizen. There are many financial benefits that the Indian government provides exclusively to the senior citizens.

Also, banking institutes and non-banking financial companies provide special schemes and interest rates for senior citizens like FD for senior citizens. These benefits are provided as the investments made at this age are post-retirement investments and a lot of people do not have a regular source of income after retirement. The risk appetite of an individual reduces with age. The exclusive financial benefits for senior citizen in India are listed below:

Lesser Taxes

Lesser Taxes

The income tax on fixed deposit(FD) for senior citizens are lower than those imposed upon the non-senior citizens. This reduces the financial burden from the senior citizen at the sunset of their lives. The tax-related exemptions and deductions for the senior citizens have been revised in the budget of 2018 also by the finance minister of India Mr. Arun Jaitley. The specifications of the same are:

  1. The exemption amount under Section 80TTB of Income Tax Act has been increased.
  2. The exempted amount for health insurance premiums under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act has also seen a rise.
  3. The limit or exemption on the expenditure in healthcare and medical aspects has also increased as per the changes in Section 80DDB of Income Tax Act.

The reduction of taxes is being increased gradually for the senior citizens to relieve them on the financial rebates. This proves to be a large help to older individuals in the Indian population.

Lower Charges

Senior citizens get many products and services at a reduced rate. The major services on which the rebate is received is the telephonic bills and services. Two big telecommunication brands of India BSNL and MTNL provide major discounts and rebates over the bills and registrations to the senior citizens. There are many other facilities and products that are available at lower rates for the senior citizens. The travel discounts are also offered to senior citizens. The fight tickets, bus tickets as well as train tickets are all available at discounted rates to the senior citizens.

Senior Citizen Fixed Deposits

Many people invest in FDs as they yield higher returns as compared to the other options of savings and investments. FD for senior citizens yields more interest than that is offered to the other investors. The NBFCs like Bajaj Finance offer highest fixed deposit (FD) interest rates for senior citizens up to 9.10% on senior Citizen FDs. The exact FD interest rates can be calculated using the FD calculator. The best option to invest for the senior citizen is into fixed deposits due to the high yield and the flexibility offered. FD accounts can be opened for a tenor of 12 months to 60 months.

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