When someone retires especially private salaried individuals with no pension as a backup, the most worrying factor is sudden stop of monthly income. With no monthly salary, there is always a tension on how to manage funds during medical emergency, meet day to day expenses, and many others.

However to protect the life of seniors during the old age; Indian government and few private bankers & companies offer special discounts/offers or run various schemes especially for seniors typically in the age bracket of 60 years and above.

In this article we’ll explore important benefits or discounts for seniors in India:

Income tax: Let’s start with income tax, which is a certain pre-fixed percentage of income paid by every earning person (depending on the income slab) in India to the government. Depending on the income earned, individuals are offered tax benefits which are better than normal individuals. Shown in the table below is the income tax for seniors:

Annual Income Slab	Income Tax
Upto Rs. 3 Lakhs	No Tax
Rs. 3 Lakhs to 5 Lakhs	5%
Rs. 5 Lakhs to 10 Lakhs	20%
Rs. 10 Lakhs & above	30%

Railway Ticket: Male senior citizens get 40% and women get 50% concession on all classes for passengers of Indian Railway. However remember that, misuse of this quote or concession by mentioning incorrect age, will result in traveler being considered as non-ticket traveler and will be charged accordingly.

Flight ticket: Few airlines offer discounts to seniors aged between 55 to 65 years. For e.g. Air India offers 50% discount on economy “M” RBD basic fare to individuals who’ve crossed 63 years as on the travel date. Indigo, GoAir & SpiceJet, offers 8% discount on basic fare.

Check out how to earn money after retirement.

Assured pension: For the coming financial year 2017-2018, government of India has approved pension scheme – Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana 2017. Under this scheme, individual would be offered 8% guaranteed pension for 10 years. Applicant will have 4 options to choose pension which can be as follows:

• Every month
• Every quarter
• Half yearly
• Annually

Investment of up to Rs. 7.5 Lakh is possible in this scheme.

26 authentic ways to earn extra income in India from home.

Higher interest on SCSS: Most of the Indian banks offer special discounts to senior citizens holding savings account with them in the form of higher interest rates. These rates are slightly higher than the ones offered to other account holders. Listed below in the table are the rates offered by various banks:

Name of Bank	Interest Rate per Annum
State Bank of India	9.3%
ICICI Bank	8.5%
HDFC Bank	8.6%
Canara Bank	9.2%
Bank of Baroda	8.5%
Andhra Bank	8.5%
Bank of India	9.3%
Allahabad Bank	9.2%
Punjab National Bank	8.5%
Corporation Bank	9.2%

Higher interest on Fixed Deposit: In comparison to FD rates offered to individuals not falling under the category of seniors, banks offer interest rate which is higher than 0.5% over and above normal rate. Here’s the table showing leading banks and rates offer to the seniors:

Name of Bank	FD Interest Rate
State Bank of India	7%
ICICI Bank	7%
HDFC Bank	7%
State Bank of Mysore	7%
Indian Bank	6.5%
YES Bank	7.6%
Punjab National Bank	7.4%
Karnataka Bank	7.65%
Kotak Mahindra	6.6%

Senior Privilege Savings Account: Axis bank has launched this product especially for individuals with age 60 years and above. The benefits offered under the account are:

• 25% discount on safe deposit locker
• 50% off on diagnosts tests done at pre-fixed 200 centers
• Up to 15% discount on purchasing medicines at Apollo pharmacies in over 1400 locations
• 0.5% preferential rate on FD/RD account

OLA Cab: Recently cab aggregator OLA announced special offers for senior people residing in Pune with an additional discount of 50% on 10 rides every month. Although this discount was only till 28th Feb 2017, a 30% discount was also announced in January 2017. So stay updated on any new offers for seniors on OLA