PPF Basics
The Public Provident Fund is a government-backed savings scheme with a 15-year tenure. You can invest between ₹500 and ₹1.5 lakh per financial year, and the interest rate is revised quarterly by the government.
PPF enjoys EEE status — contributions, interest, and maturity proceeds are all tax-free. It is one of the safest investments in India and available through post offices and most banks.
How PPF Interest Compounds
PPF interest is calculated on the lowest balance between the 5th and the last day of each month, and credited at the end of every quarter. This monthly balance rule means deposits made before the 5th earn interest for the full month.
At the current rate of around 7.1%, investing the full ₹1.5 lakh every year for 15 years grows to roughly ₹40.7 lakh — of which about ₹22.5 lakh is your own contribution and the rest is tax-free interest.
Withdrawals and Extensions
You can make partial withdrawals from the 7th financial year, up to 50% of the balance at the end of the 4th preceding year. Loans against PPF are also available between years 3 and 6.
After 15 years you can extend the account in blocks of 5 years — with or without further contributions. Extending with contributions keeps the tax-free compounding going, which is a powerful retirement strategy.
Plan Your PPF with a Calculator
Because interest compounds quarterly and the balance rule affects every deposit, manual PPF projections are tedious and error-prone. Our PPF calculator shows your year-by-year balance, total interest, and maturity amount in seconds.
Try different annual contributions and tenures to see how much earlier you can reach your retirement corpus target.