National Savings profit rates in Pakistan: Behbood at 12.96%, RIC at 12.12% — what Rs 100,000 earns now
Rs 100,000 in a Behbood Savings Certificate now pays Rs 1,080 a month. That is the figure after the Central Directorate of National Savings revised its rates on 21 October 2026, and it is Rs 20 a month more than the rate that applied on 1 October. For the people the scheme was built for — older savers, widows, pensioners — Rs 20 a month on every lakh is not small at all.
The revision touched almost every scheme National Savings runs. Regular Income Certificates moved to 12.12 percent. Special Savings Certificates moved to 12 percent for the first five profits. Short-term certificates moved up on all three tenors. The one rate that did not move was the ordinary Savings Account, which stayed at 10 percent. The Central Directorate's own page still heads its summary "w.e.f. 21-Oct-2026", with that unchanged figure in plain text: no change in the Savings Account profit, which remains at 10.00 percent a year.
Read the numbers below the way they are printed. A rate is not a payout until you know when the money arrives, whether tax is taken off first, and whether the figure is fixed or only expected. Two schemes in this revision pay an expected rate, not a fixed one. One headline rate, on Defence Savings Certificates, is an average over ten years, not a yearly coupon. Get those distinctions wrong and every comparison that follows goes wrong with them.
The welfare schemes moved together
Behbood Savings Certificates, Pensioners' Benefit Accounts and Shuhada Family Welfare Accounts all moved by the same amount: up 24 basis points, from 12.72 percent to 12.96 percent a year. On Rs 100,000 that is Rs 12,960 a year, paid as Rs 1,080 a month. On 1 October the same lakh paid Rs 1,060 a month. The rise is Rs 240 a year per lakh.
These three are the welfare end of National Savings. Mettis Global, reporting the revision on 21 October, groups them together as welfare-oriented schemes, and The News reported the same three figures on the same day: 12.72 percent to 12.96 percent. There is a tax point here that changes the comparison with every other scheme, and it is easy to miss. Profit on Behbood Savings Certificates and Pensioners' Benefit Accounts is exempt from withholding tax deduction. The Federal Board of Revenue said so in Circular No. 12 of 2004, which exempted the profit on both schemes from deduction of withholding tax with effect from 1 July 2004. The income still has to be declared in the tax return, and any tax due is paid with the return. No deduction at source is not the same as no tax at all.
For the Shuhada Family Welfare Account, no such exemption is stated in the sources read for this article, so none is claimed for it. The three schemes share a rate. They do not necessarily share a tax position.
Scale the Behbood figure up and the revision reads differently. Rs 500,000 at 12.96 percent pays Rs 5,400 a month. Rs 1,000,000 pays Rs 10,800 a month, before any final tax settled through the return. Nobody spends a percentage. They spend the monthly credit.
Monthly income, and what tax leaves behind
Regular Income Certificates are the workhorse for savers who want a monthly cheque without the welfare schemes' eligibility limits. The rate rose 36 basis points, from 11.76 percent to 12.12 percent, and the payout on Rs 100,000 rose from Rs 980 to Rs 1,010 a month. That is Rs 12,120 a year on a lakh, before withholding tax.
Withholding tax is where the headline and the bank credit part company. Mettis Global reports that profit payments remain subject to 15 percent withholding tax for filers and 30 percent for non-filers, along with a 2.5 percent Zakat deduction where applicable. Apply the filer rate to the Regular Income Certificate and Rs 1,010 becomes Rs 858.50 a month. Apply the non-filer rate and it becomes Rs 707. The gap between filer and non-filer on a single lakh is Rs 151.50 a month, Rs 1,818 a year. On Rs 1,000,000 it is Rs 1,515 a month.
Special Savings Certificates pay differently. The first five profits pay 12 percent a year, which is Rs 6,000 every six months on Rs 100,000. The sixth and last profit pays 12.80 percent, which is Rs 6,400. Six payments, three years, Rs 36,400 gross on a lakh. Take 15 percent withholding tax off the total and Rs 30,940 is left. Take 30 percent off and Rs 25,480 is left. The News reported the first-five rate rising from 11.6 percent to 12 percent. A saver comparing this certificate with a monthly one has to do the half-yearly arithmetic, not just line the percentages up.
| Scheme | Rate from 21 Oct 2026 | What Rs 100,000 pays | When it pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behbood / Pensioners' / Shuhada | 12.96% | Rs 1,080 | Monthly |
| Regular Income Certificate | 12.12% | Rs 1,010 | Monthly |
| Special Savings Certificate, profits 1–5 | 12.00% | Rs 6,000 | Every 6 months |
| Special Savings Certificate, profit 6 | 12.80% | Rs 6,400 | Last payment |
| Short-term, 3 months | 11.12% | Rs 2,780 | At maturity |
| Short-term, 6 months | 11.50% | Rs 5,750 | At maturity |
| Short-term, 12 months | 11.72% | Rs 11,720 | At maturity |
| Savings Account | 10.00% | — | Unchanged |
The Zakat line needs care. Mettis Global states a 2.5 percent Zakat deduction where applicable, and that "where applicable" does the heavy lifting. Zakat treatment varies by scheme, and the sources read for this article do not settle it scheme by scheme. Confirm the Zakat position on the exact certificate held before treating any figure above as the amount that will land in the account. The same caution applies to the Islamic schemes below, whose rates are expected rather than fixed.
Defence Savings Certificates don't pay yearly at all
Defence Savings Certificates rose 14 basis points to a headline 11.94 percent, from 11.80 percent on 1 October. Do not read that as a yearly payment. The certificate pays nothing until it is encashed. Its profit builds up year by year: 10 percent in the first year, 21 percent in the second, 34 percent in the third, 49 percent in the fourth, 67 percent in the fifth, 88 percent in the sixth, 113 percent in the seventh, 142 percent in the eighth, 176 percent in the ninth, and 215 percent in the tenth.
Rs 100,000 held for the full ten years becomes Rs 315,000. That is Rs 215,000 of profit on a lakh, and it is the only Defence Savings Certificate figure that means anything on its own. The News confirmed the same year-by-year steps, including the rises at six years (86 to 88 percent), seven years (109 to 113), eight years (136 to 142), nine years (168 to 176) and ten years (205 to 215). A saver who cashes out early gets the step for the year reached, not a slice of the tenth-year figure. That is the whole design. It rewards holding, and it punishes anyone who needs the money in year three and expected a tenth-year return.
Put it beside the monthly schemes and the trade is plain. Behbood pays Rs 1,080 a month on a lakh from the first month. Defence pays nothing monthly and Rs 215,000 after ten years. Over ten years Behbood pays Rs 129,600 on the same lakh, month by month, before any final tax through the return. Defence pays more in total, but only to a saver who can wait ten years without touching it. The right answer depends on when the money is needed, not on which percentage looks bigger. The policy backdrop matters too: the account of the 12 percent policy rate decision shows the State Bank raising its rate on 26 October, five days after this National Savings revision.
The short-term and Islamic rates, in plain terms
Short Term Savings Certificates moved on all three tenors. Three months pays 11.12 percent, which is Rs 2,780 on Rs 100,000. Six months pays 11.50 percent, which is Rs 5,750. Twelve months pays 11.72 percent, which is Rs 11,720. The News confirmed the three-month move, from 10.80 percent to 11.12 percent. These are maturity payments, not monthly ones. A saver who parks Rs 100,000 for three months gets Rs 2,780 at the end and nothing in between.
The Islamic products carry the word "expected", and it changes what the figures promise. The Sarwa Islamic Term Account offers an expected 11.84 percent for one year, which is Rs 11,840 on Rs 100,000 at maturity. The three-year tenor offers 12.10 percent, paid as Rs 6,050 every six months. The five-year tenor offers 12.12 percent, paid as Rs 1,010 a month. The Sarwa Islamic Savings Account offers an expected 11.84 percent a year, paid monthly. Expected means the payout can vary with the underlying returns. It is not a fixed coupon.
None of this is a recommendation. A saver choosing between a monthly certificate, a six-monthly one and a ten-year one is choosing a payment shape, a tax position and a lock-in, all at once. The salary tax slabs for 2026-27 and monthly take-home pay show how much of a household's monthly income the tax system already takes, which is why the after-tax monthly figure matters more than the headline rate. And the minimum wage rates in Sindh and Punjab put the scale in context: Rs 1,010 a month on a lakh is real money beside a monthly wage, and Rs 707 after non-filer withholding is noticeably less real.
One last check before anyone acts on these figures. National Savings revised the same rates between 1 October and 21 October 2026 — the 1 October figures quoted above are different on every scheme that moved. Confirm the current schedule on the Central Directorate's latest profit rates page, and the tax and Zakat position on the exact scheme, before investing. A rate printed in October is a record of October, not a promise for the day the money goes in.
This article reports the National Savings schedule effective 21 October 2026 as published by the Central Directorate and reported by Mettis Global and The News. It is not financial advice. Profit rates, withholding tax and Zakat treatment can change, and the final tax position depends on the saver's own return. Confirm the current rates with National Savings before investing.
Sources
- Central Directorate of National Savings — Latest Profit Rates (summary w.e.f. 21 October 2026; Savings Account unchanged at 10.00%)
- Mettis Global — CDNS raises profit rates across key savings instruments, 21 October 2026
- The News — National savings schemes profit rates increased, 21 October 2026
- Federal Board of Revenue — Circular No. 12 of 2004, withholding tax exemption for Behbood Savings Certificates and Pensioners Benefit Accounts
