Pakistan’s state-run savings schemes will pay more from today, October 21, 2026, after the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) issued a revised profit-rate schedule covering almost every certificate and account it offers. The biggest beneficiaries are pensioners, senior citizens and families of martyrs: Behbood Savings Certificates, Pensioners’ Benefit Accounts and Shuhada Family Welfare Accounts now pay 12.96 per cent a year, up from 12.72 per cent, pushing the monthly payout on Rs100,000 to Rs1,080 from Rs1,060. But the headline rates tell only half the story: once withholding tax is deducted, the take-home figure drops sharply, and the ordinary savings account has been left untouched at 10 per cent.
What each scheme pays on Rs100,000 now
Regular Income Certificates, the workhorse for households that live on monthly profit, rise to 12.12 per cent from 11.76 per cent, so a Rs100,000 holding now pays Rs1,010 a month instead of Rs980. Special Savings Certificates move to 12 per cent from 11.6 per cent for the first five six-monthly payments, which works out to Rs6,000 every six months on Rs100,000, while the sixth and final payment carries a higher rate of 12.8 per cent, or Rs6,400.
Defence Savings Certificates, which compound profit over long holding periods, have been raised across the board: the cumulative return is now 88 per cent at six years (from 86), 113 per cent at seven years (from 109), 142 per cent at eight years (from 136), 176 per cent at nine years (from 168) and 215 per cent at ten years (from 205). A 215 per cent cumulative gain over ten years works out to roughly 12.2 per cent a year compounded, the strongest nominal return in the schedule for savers who can lock money away.
Short-Term Savings Certificates have also been lifted: the three-month rate is now 11.12 per cent (from 10.80), six months pay 11.50 per cent and one year pays 11.72 per cent, so Rs100,000 earns Rs2,780, Rs5,750 and Rs11,720 respectively over those periods. On the Sharia-compliant side, Sarwa Islamic Term Accounts now offer expected rates between 11.84 and 12.12 per cent depending on tenure, and the Sarwa Islamic Savings Account rises to 11.84 per cent from 11.33 per cent. Against the backdrop of the USD to PKR exchange rate today, these rupee returns are what small savers compare before deciding whether to hold cash or park money in certificates.
The tax cut nobody quotes in the headline
Every rate CDNS publishes is gross, and the deductions are not small. Profits are subject to withholding tax at 15 per cent for filers and 30 per cent for non-filers, with Zakat deducted where prescribed. That means the advertised Rs1,080 a month on a Rs100,000 Behbood certificate is actually Rs918 in hand for a filer and Rs756 for a non-filer, before any Zakat deduction. On a Regular Income Certificate, the advertised Rs1,010 a month becomes about Rs859 for a filer and Rs707 for a non-filer.
This tax gap is the part no bank or agent mentions when selling the schemes, yet it decides whether the real return beats inflation. For non-filers, almost a third of the advertised profit never reaches the pocket, which makes the filer versus non-filer difference worth more than the entire 24-basis-point hike on the welfare schemes this round.
Who wins, who stays frozen
The clear winners are the welfare-oriented savers: widows, senior citizens, retired government employees and martyrs’ families, whose schemes gained 24 basis points to 12.96 per cent. Short-term savers and Islamic-account holders also gained. The silent loser is the ordinary Savings Account holder: its rate stays exactly where it was, at 10 per cent a year, even as every other product moved up. The 10 per cent rate is also the reference point that banks watch, and savers holding deposits there are effectively accepting a cut relative to the rest of the schedule.
The hike lands in a week when household budgets are getting small reliefs from several directions: petrol prices were cut on October 20, and gold prices fell Rs3,600 per tola on October 20, so savers weighing gold against certificates have a new comparison to make. The revised CDNS schedule gave no reason for the increase, and none of the reporting outlets carried an official explanation.
What happens next
The new rates apply from October 21, 2026 to fresh investments and to profit payments falling due under the revised schedule; existing certificate holders should check the CDNS schedule or their nearest National Savings centre for how their specific payments change. CDNS revises these rates periodically, so the October schedule will be reviewed again in the coming months against the policy rate and market conditions. For context on where savings fit into the wider economy, see PakMirror’s business and economy news from Pakistan.
