Finance Minister Arun Jaitley relaunched the once successful Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) scheme on 18 Nov 2014.
Minimum investment amount required to start with is Rs.1,000. 
The word 'Kisan' in 'Kisan Vikas Patra' scheme does not mean that the scheme has been introduced only for 'Kisan' or farmers of the country, any citizen of India is free to invest under the scheme.
History of KVP : Kisan Vikas Patra was first launched by Government of India on April 1, 1988. A committee was set up by the government to give its suggestions on KVP which was headed by former Deputy Governor of RBI, Shyamala Gopinath. Upon recommendations by the committee that it could be misused, the government discontinued the KVP scheme in 2011.
Salient features of the Kisan Vikas Patra:
- Kisan Vikas Patra are sold through Post offices across the country but will soon be available in some government banks too. Any citizen of India can purchase the KVP from post offices by filling a form and depositing the amount through cash or cheque.
- Money will be doubles in 8 years 4 months (100 months). Thus the applicable interest rate is 8.7%
- KVP will be available in denominations of Rs.1,000, Rs. 5,000, Rs. 10,000, and Rs. 50,000.
- There will be no upper ceiling on investment.
- Minimum lock-in period is 2 years and 6 months.
- KVP can be encashed in eight equal monthly installments after the lock-in period.
- No KYC norms would be applicable at the time of purchase of KVP, PAN details will not be required.
- KVP does not offer any income tax benefits to the investor. However, withdrawals are exempted from Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) upon maturity.
- Facilities of transferring KVP from one post office to another anywhere in India, and of nomination will be available to all users.
Source: Department of Post, GOI