Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],

If you keep an eye on the LinkedIn universe, you’ve probably already come across the biggest fintech news this week—NRIs being able to use the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Absolutely great for those who need it, but maybe not so much for the payments company executives who have to implement it.

But before we get to Arundhati’s piece on why, here’s Anand breaking down some interesting exceptions to the recent small savings scheme rate hikes.

Deliberate moves on small savings schemes

At the end of December, when the government finally increased interest rates on most small savings schemes, it did something unusual. It kept out two popular investment instruments—the Public Provident Fund (PPF) and the girl-child oriented Sukanya Samriddhi Account (SSA)—from the rate hikes. 

So for the quarter ending March 2023, the PPF continues to earn 7.1% interest and the SSA stays at 7.6%; these rates haven’t changed since April 2020. 

Meanwhile, the baby steps of September 2022 (there were minor rate hikes then) hastening up in December has meant good tidings, even if just, for many schemes.