The Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) is a low-risk investment scheme offering steady income. The MIS scheme pays interest each month and is suited for those who seek regular or supplementary income from their investments.

The Post Office Monthly Income Scheme is one of the popular investment options in India, as it is a government-backed scheme and the invested amount is protected by the government until maturity. The money deposited is not subject to market risks and stays safe.

Under the Post Office monthly income scheme, investors can invest up to Rs 4.5 lakh individually and Rs 9 lakh jointly. Once you start investing, you will receive the payout from the investment starting from the first month, which will be credited to you at the end of every month.

Features & Benefits of Post Office Monthly Income Scheme.

Capital protection: Your money is safe until maturity as this is a government-backed scheme.

Tenure: The lock-in period for Post Office MIS is 5 years. You can withdraw the invested amount when the scheme matures or reinvest it.

Low-risk investment: As a fixed income scheme, the money you invested is not subject to market risks and is quite safe.

Start small: You can start with a nominal initial investment of Rs.1,500. As per your affordability, you can invest in multiples of this amount.

Guaranteed returns: You earn income in the form of interest every month. The returns are not inflation-beating but are higher compared to other fixed-income investments like FD.

Tax-efficiency: Though your post office investment doesn’t fall under Section 80C and the income is subject to taxation. On the other hand, it has no TDS either.

Eligibility: Only a resident Indian can open a POMIS account. NRIs cannot enjoy the benefits of this scheme. You can open it in your child’s name too, provided he/she is aged 10 or above.

Payout: You will receive the payout one month from making the first investment, and not the beginning of every month.

Multiple account ownership: You can open more than one account in your name. But the total deposit amount cannot exceed Rs. 4.5 lakhs in all of them together.

Joint account: You can open a joint account with 2 or 3 people. Regardless of who is contributing, it belongs to all account holders equally.

Fund movement: The investor can move the funds to an RD (recurring deposit), which is a feature Post Office has added recently.

Age: As mentioned above, you can start an account on behalf of a minor who is of age 10 and above. They can avail they fund when they become 18. A minor, after attaining majority, has to apply for conversion of the account in his name.

Nominee: The investor can nominate a beneficiary (a family member) so that they can claim the benefits and corpus if the investor passes away.

Ease of money/interest transaction: You may collect the monthly interest directly from the post office or transfer it to your savings account. Reinvesting the interest in an SIP is also lucrative option.

Transfer: In the event of shifting from one city to another, you can easily transfer your investment to your post office in the current city at no extra cost.

Reinvestment: You may reinvest the corpus post maturity in the same scheme for another 5 years to get double benefits.

Eligibility: Who can open a Monthly Income Scheme account

  • A single adult.
  • Joint Account (up to 3 adults) (Joint A or Joint B).
  • A guardian on behalf of minor/ person of unsound mind.
  • A minor above 10 years in his own name.

How to open a Post office MIS account:

To open a monthly income scheme, you will have to pay a visit to the nearest post office. Ask for the application form and, fill in the details and submit. There is no online facility to open this type of account yet. The post office savings account application form can be downloaded from the official website.