PPF Calculator

How to Use the PPF Calculator

Enter your annual deposit (₹500–₹1,50,000). Choose one-time or monthly deposits. The calculator shows 15-year maturity and allows extension in 5-year blocks.

PPF Calculator Formula

• 7.1% = Current PPF rate (Q1 2026, updated quarterly)

Example Calculation

What Makes PPF Special

The Public Provident Fund is a government-backed savings scheme that occupies a unique place in Indian personal finance. Its defining feature is the EEE tax status — Exempt, Exempt, Exempt. Your contributions qualify for a deduction under Section 80C, the interest you earn is completely tax-free, and the maturity amount is tax-free as well. Very few instruments in India give you tax relief at all three stages, and that is what makes PPF's modest headline rate more attractive than it first appears.

Because the returns are guaranteed by the government and the interest is tax-free, PPF is best understood as the safe, debt portion of a long-term portfolio — the part you never want to lose, balanced against riskier, higher-return investments like equity mutual funds.

The Rules That Matter

• Tenure: 15 years, extendable in blocks of 5 years after maturity.
• Contribution: between ₹500 and ₹1.5 lakh per financial year, in up to 12 instalments or a lump sum.
• Interest: set by the government and revised every quarter, typically around 7–7.5%, compounded annually.
• Lock-in: your money is genuinely locked, with only limited partial withdrawals allowed from year 7.
• Loan facility: you can borrow against your PPF balance between years 3 and 6.

The long lock-in is a feature, not a bug — it enforces the discipline that makes PPF work, and protects the corpus from impulsive withdrawals.

The April 5th Trick

There is one timing detail that quietly costs careless investors money every year. PPF interest is calculated on the lowest balance in your account between the 5th and the end of each month. So if you deposit after the 5th, that month's deposit earns no interest for the month. To maximise returns, make your contribution before the 5th of the month — and if you invest a lump sum, do it before the 5th of April so the full amount earns interest for the entire financial year. Over 15 years, getting this right adds a meaningful amount to your final corpus for zero extra effort.

PPF in Your Wider Plan

PPF should not be your only investment. Its guaranteed, tax-free return is excellent for the safe core of your retirement savings, but its rate will rarely beat long-term equity, and the 15-year lock-in means it cannot serve as an emergency fund. A balanced approach uses PPF to anchor the low-risk part of your portfolio, an equity SIP for long-term growth, and a liquid fund or FD for money you might need soon. Use this calculator to project your PPF corpus, then compare it against an equity SIP over the same period to see how the safety-versus-growth trade-off plays out for your goals.

Frequently Asked Questions

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