How to use this PPF calculator
This PPF calculator projects the maturity value of your Public Provident Fund account at the current GoI-notified rate (7.1% for the April-June 2026 quarter). Four inputs drive the result:
- Annual deposit amount — between the statutory minimum of ₹500 per year and the maximum of ₹1,50,000 per year. Combined deposits across self + minor-child PPF accounts cannot exceed this ₹1.5L cap. The PPF calculator enforces these limits.
- Annual interest rate — default 7.1% (current GoI rate). Historical range: 7.1% to 12% over 30 years. Our PPF calculator holds your chosen rate constant across the full tenure for a clean projection; actual returns will vary as rates reset quarterly.
- Tenure — base 15-year lock-in. Extend in 5-year blocks up to any practical horizon. The PPF calculator accepts 1 to 50 years, letting you model everything from a 15-year first-tenure account to a 35-year compounding run to retirement.
- Contribution timing — PPF interest is computed on the minimum balance between the 5th and last day of each month, so depositing before the 5th of April maximises the full-year compounding effect. Our PPF calculator assumes this optimal timing by default.
Every input auto-saves to the URL — share with a spouse / advisor or bookmark for next year to return to your exact scenario without re-entering. The result shows year-by-year balance, total interest earned, and total tax saved under Section 80C in your current slab.
How PPF works
Public Provident Fund (PPF) is the most popular long-term tax-saving instrument in India. The Department of Economic Affairs (Ministry of Finance) notifies the interest rate every quarter, which is paid into the account at year-end. Deposits qualify for Section 80C deduction (within the combined ₹1.5 lakh cap), the interest earned each year is fully exempt from income tax under Section 10(11), and the maturity amount is fully tax-free. This is the only Indian instrument with EEE (Exempt-Exempt-Exempt) tax status alongside SSY for girl child accounts.
The maths
PPF interest is compounded annually at the rate notified for the relevant financial year. Within a year, the interest is calculated on the minimum balance between the 5th and the last day of each month, which is the GoI’s way of incentivising you to deposit before the 5th. Our calculator assumes the optimal timing (deposit before the 5th of April so the entire annual deposit earns interest for the full year).
Year-end balance = (Opening balance + Annual deposit) × (1 + r)
For ₹1.5 lakh per year at 7.1% over 15 years, the final maturity is ₹40,68,209. Of that, ₹22.5 lakh is your contribution and ₹18.18 lakh is interest — and not a single rupee is taxable.
Tenure and extensions
The base PPF tenure is 15 years. After the initial 15-year lock-in completes you have three choices, declared in writing within one year of maturity:
- Withdraw the full balance. Account closes.
- Extend in 5-year blocks WITH further contributions.You can keep contributing ₹500–₹1.5L/year. The deposits continue to qualify for 80C and the interest stays tax-free.
- Extend in 5-year blocks WITHOUT contributions.The corpus continues to earn the prevailing rate but you cannot deposit further. One partial withdrawal per year is allowed.
The calculator’s tenure field accepts any value 1–50 to let you model both the base 15-year plan and any number of 5-year extensions. For a 35-year horizon at 7.1% with ₹1.5L/year, the corpus approaches ₹2 crore — the power of compound interest in a tax-free wrapper.
Partial withdrawal & loan facility
- Partial withdrawal — allowed once per year starting from year 7 onwards. Cap = 50% of balance as on the 4th year prior, or 50% of immediately preceding year’s balance, whichever is lower.
- Loan facility — allowed between year 3 and year 6. Cap = 25% of balance as on 2 years prior. Interest = PPF rate + 1%, repayable within 36 months. Outstanding loans must be cleared before another loan is granted.
Both features make PPF more flexible than its 15-year lock-in suggests. If you ever need money in an emergency, partial withdrawal is faster than premature closure (which is allowed only after 5 years and on specified grounds: serious illness, higher education, change of residency).
EEE tax status — why PPF is special
Most savings instruments are taxed at one or more of three stages: Exempt (E) on contribution, Exempt on accumulation, and Exempt on withdrawal. PPF is EEE on all three:
- Contribution — E: deductible u/s 80C up to ₹1.5L/year.
- Accumulation — E: annual interest fully exempt u/s 10(11).
- Withdrawal — E: maturity / partial withdrawal fully tax-free.
Compare this to:
- EPF — EEE if continuous employment for 5+ years; otherwise withdrawal becomes taxable.
- NPS — EET (60% tax-free at 60, 40% must buy annuity which is taxable).
- ELSS — EEE on contribution+accumulation, but LTCG on units sold > ₹1.25L is taxable at 12.5% post Budget 2024 → effectively EET.
- Tax-saver FD — E on contribution, T on accumulation (interest taxable annually), E on withdrawal.
PPF vs ELSS — the recurring debate
Both qualify for 80C. Roughly:
- PPF — guaranteed 7–7.5% (currently 7.1%), 15-year lock-in, EEE.
- ELSS — equity, expected 11–14% over the long run, 3-year lock-in (shortest of all 80C options), EEE-but-LTCG-above-₹1.25L.
For pure tax-saving purposes, ELSS gives a better expected return with shorter lock-in. PPF is the right choice when you want a guaranteed component in your fixed-income allocation, especially in the run-up to retirement when capital protection matters more than upside.
Account opening & rules
- One account per individual (PAN). Cannot open joint accounts.
- Minor accounts allowed for children, operated by guardian.
- NRIs cannot open new PPF; existing accounts continue till maturity but cannot be extended.
- Accounts can be opened at any post office or designated branches of public-sector and major private banks (SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis, PNB, etc.).
- Online deposits supported via SBI YONO, ICICI iMobile, HDFC NetBanking, Axis Mobile, India Post savings app.
Worked example — ₹1.5 lakh per year, 15 to 30 years
- 15 years @ 7.1%: deposit ₹22.5L, maturity ₹40.68L (interest ₹18.18L).
- 20 years (1 extension): deposit ₹30L, maturity ₹66.58L (interest ₹36.58L).
- 25 years (2 extensions): deposit ₹37.5L, maturity ₹1.03 cr (interest ₹65.5L).
- 30 years (3 extensions): deposit ₹45L, maturity ₹1.54 cr (interest ₹1.09 cr).
Each additional 5-year extension dramatically increases the corpus because all the accumulated interest itself starts earning interest. This is the strongest argument for opening a PPF account in your early 20s and continuing through retirement. Run these scenarios yourself in the PPF calculator above by changing only the tenure field.
Worked example — partial contribution levels
Not everyone can or should deposit the full ₹1.5L. Here’s what the PPF calculator projects for four realistic contribution bands, all at 7.1% for the full 15 years:
- ₹500/year (statutory minimum): total deposit ₹7,500, maturity ~₹13,562. Keeps the account active; useful if you opened PPF young and want to keep the option of ramping up deposits later.
- ₹12,500/year (₹1,041/month equivalent): total deposit ₹1,87,500, maturity ~₹3,39,018. Reasonable starter commitment for a fresh graduate earning ₹30-40K/month.
- ₹50,000/year (₹4,167/month equivalent): total deposit ₹7,50,000, maturity ~₹13,56,070. Sensible allocation if you are splitting 80C between PPF and ELSS and treating PPF as the fixed-income anchor.
- ₹1,50,000/year (full ₹1.5L cap): total deposit ₹22,50,000, maturity ~₹40,68,209. Maximum 80C benefit. Recommended for conservative 30%-slab taxpayers who have no home loan to absorb 80C elsewhere.
Tax saving sits on top of the raw maturity: a 30%-slab taxpayer depositing ₹1.5L/year saves ₹46,800 of tax annually (₹1.5L × 31.2% effective rate with cess). Over 15 years, that’s ₹7.02L of avoided tax — effectively a 31% instant return before the 7.1% compounding even starts. Model this in the PPF calculator by toggling your slab rate.
Worked example — monthly vs annual lump-sum deposit
A common question: does depositing ₹12,500 monthly vs ₹1,50,000 on April 1 make a material difference? Plug both into the PPF calculator:
- Annual lump-sum (April 1): full ₹1.5L earns interest for the entire FY. Year-1 interest ≈ ₹10,650.
- Monthly ₹12,500 (on the 1st of each month): average balance ≈ ₹81,250 over the year; year-1 interest ≈ ₹5,769.
Annual lump-sum on April 1 beats monthly by ~₹4,881 in year 1 alone. Over 15 years of compounding, that differential grows to ~₹1.2L of maturity difference. If cashflow permits, always front-load — this is why our PPF calculator defaults to the annual-deposit assumption.
PPF vs alternatives — decision framework
| Profile | Horizon | Best 80C choice |
|---|---|---|
| Early-career, ₹8-15L salary, high risk tolerance | 15+ years | ELSS (equity, 11-13% expected) > PPF |
| Mid-career, ₹15-25L, conservative allocation target | 10-15 years | PPF + ELSS mix (50:50 of ₹1.5L 80C cap) |
| Approaching retirement (50+), capital preservation | 5-10 years | PPF (EEE, guaranteed, liquid via partial withdrawal) |
| Parents of a girl child < 10 years old | 21 years | Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana + PPF (SSY pays 0.2-0.5% higher) |
| Self-employed with no EPF | Long-term retirement | PPF + NPS (combines EEE + equity exposure) |
| NRI (existing account) | Till maturity | Keep PPF active, cannot extend post-15-years; withdraw at maturity |
| Fresh NRI (post-2018) | Any | PPF not allowed — use NRE FD + SWP from mutual fund instead |
Run both scenarios (pure PPF vs mixed) in our PPF vs ELSS vs FD comparison guide and the PPF calculator above to see your exact numbers.
Account management — the rules that matter
- Deposit frequency: any frequency is allowed, but the deposit must credit before the 5th of a month to earn interest for that month. Post-5th deposits effectively earn a month less of interest each year.
- Missed year: if you miss the ₹500 minimum deposit in any year, the account becomes “inactive”. You cannot take a loan or partial withdrawal from an inactive account. Revive it by depositing ₹500 for the missed year + ₹50 penalty per missed year.
- Nomination: mandatory field while opening the account. Up to 4 nominees allowed with specific share percentages. Update if life circumstances change (marriage, divorce, death of a nominee).
- Transfer between banks / post office: PPF accounts are portable. A single “Form G” request moves your account from any bank / post office to another without affecting maturity or interest.
- Premature closure: allowed only after completion of 5 full FYs from opening, and only for specified reasons: life-threatening illness of self/family, higher education of self/children, change of residency (becoming NRI). 1% interest penalty applies — you receive interest at (actual rate − 1%) for the full tenure.
- Death of account holder: nominee submits death certificate + claim form. No lock-in applies to nominee — full balance disbursed immediately. Minimum ₹500 deposit requirement also waived.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Depositing after the 5th of each month. Every post-5th deposit forfeits that month’s interest. Over 15 years of sloppy timing, this costs ₹2-3L of maturity. Set up an auto-debit on the 1st of each month, or lump-sum on April 1.
- Depositing > ₹1.5L across combined accounts. You + minor child’s PPF together cap at ₹1.5L/year. Excess deposits earn no interest and get refunded without the 80C benefit. Our PPF calculator enforces the cap on input.
- Treating PPF as a liquid fund. Partial withdrawal is only from year 7; loans only in year 3-6. For emergency liquidity, build a 6-month emergency fund in a liquid mutual fund or sweep FD first.
- Not extending at maturity. Silent maturity (no Form H submitted) defaults to extension-without-contribution. Balance continues earning interest, but you lose the tax-deductible contribution stream. If you want to keep contributing, submit Form H within 1 year of maturity.
- Opening joint accounts. PPF allows only one account per PAN. Joint accounts are not permitted. Separate accounts for spouse and minor children are allowed but count toward the combined ₹1.5L cap if you (the adult) are the guardian.
- Ignoring Sukanya Samriddhi for daughters. SSY runs 0.2-0.5% above PPF and has identical EEE status + the same ₹1.5L annual cap. If you have a girl child under 10, SSY for her + PPF for self is the right combination — not two PPFs.
- Not checking the PPF calculator with real rates. Historical PPF rates ranged from 7.1% to 12%. Running the calculator at a constant 7.1% is a conservative baseline; in a rising-rate cycle, maturity can be 15-20% higher. Re-run the PPF calculator every 3 years to check your actual trajectory vs the projection.
Frequently asked questions
- Is PPF interest taxable?
- No. Interest credited each year is fully exempt under Section 10(11). The annual interest is mentioned in your AIS but not added to your taxable income.
- Can I have a PPF account in both my name and my child’s?
- Yes. You can have one PPF in your own name and operate a separate account as guardian for your minor child. The combined deposits in both accounts cannot exceed ₹1.5L per year.
- When does the rate change apply?
- The Department of Economic Affairs revises the rate every quarter (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct). The new rate applies to interest accrued during that quarter. Historical rate has ranged from 7.1% to 12% over the past 30 years; current rate is 7.1%.
- How accurate is this calculator?
- Maturity values match India Post NSI’s published PPF tables within ₹5. Computed with high-precision decimal arithmetic — accurate to the rupee. Nine real-world fixture rows and 1,000+ property-based assertions run on every commit.
Sources
- PPF Scheme 2019 (notified by DEA, Ministry of Finance)
- Section 80C and Section 10(11), Income Tax Act 1961
- India Post NSI — Public Provident Fund
- RBI Master Direction on Government Small Savings Schemes
Disclaimer. PPF rate is revised quarterly by the Government. The calculator uses your assumed rate constant across the full tenure; actual returns will vary. Consult India Post or your bank for current rate and to open / manage an account.