PPF Calculator
Fifteen years of deposits, compounded yearly and tax free throughout.
Everything runs inside your browser. Your files never leave your device.
Result
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Questions about what this tool does, which option to pick, or what it can and cannot handle.
The question you type here is sent to an AI provider to be answered — your files and whatever you put in the tool above are not, and the assistant cannot see them. Answers are generated and can be wrong. The tool itself is not guessing: it runs deterministic code on your device.
About the PPF Calculator
The Public Provident Fund runs for fifteen years, compounds once a year, and is exempt from tax on the way in, along the way and on the way out. That last property is rare enough in India that it changes how the scheme should be compared against anything else.
Because the interest is untaxed, the headline rate is the rate you actually receive. A bank deposit paying the same nominal figure returns materially less to anyone in a higher slab, so a comparison that ignores tax will always understate this scheme. The maturity figure here is the figure that reaches you.
There is a timing rule inside the scheme that most calculators ignore and that is worth more than a rate change. Interest is computed on the lowest balance in the account between the fifth day of the month and the last. Money deposited on the third of April earns for the full year; the same money deposited on the sixth earns for eleven months, and deposited in March it earns for almost none. Over fifteen years, always depositing in early April rather than late March is worth a meaningful sum for nothing but a diary entry. This projection assumes deposits are made at the start of each year, which is the arrangement that rule rewards.
The account can be extended in blocks of five years once the initial term ends, with or without further deposits, which is why the term field goes beyond fifteen. An extended account that receives no fresh money still compounds, and those later years are the cheapest growth in the scheme.
The annual ceiling is a hundred and fifty thousand rupees across all accounts you hold.
How to use it
- 1Enter what you plan to deposit each year, up to the annual ceiling.
- 2Set the rate from the current notification — the default is a common recent figure, not a live lookup.
- 3Leave the term at fifteen for the standard account, or raise it in steps of five for an extension.
- 4Read the yearly table to see how much of the final balance comes from the last few years.
Questions
- When in the year should I deposit?
- Before the fifth of April, if you can. Interest is calculated on the lowest balance between the fifth and the end of each month, so an early-April deposit earns a full year and a March one earns almost nothing.
- Is the maturity amount really tax free?
- Yes. The scheme is exempt at all three stages: the deposit qualifies for a deduction, the interest is not taxed as it accrues, and the maturity proceeds are not taxed. That is why its rate is not directly comparable to a bank deposit's.
- Can I take money out before fifteen years?
- Partial withdrawal is allowed from the seventh year, subject to limits, and a loan is available earlier against the balance. Full closure before maturity is permitted only in narrow circumstances.
- What happens after fifteen years?
- You can withdraw everything, or extend in five-year blocks with or without further deposits. An extension without deposits still earns interest, which makes those years unusually efficient.