PPF CALCULATOR

Loan (Max.)*: Loan Amount refers to the loan on PPF that can be availed at the beginning of the year.
Withdrawal (Max.)**: Withdrawal Amount refers to the PPF balance that can be withdrawn at the start of the year.

What is a PPF Calculator?

It is easy to use a handy tool that can help perform even the most complicated PPF related calculations with ease. Using the PPF calculator you can easily calculate the year-wise PPF returns you can earn by contributing to your PPF account over a pre-determined time period and with a specific frequency. This is a versatile tool and separate bank-wise calculators such as SBI PPF Calculator, PNB PPF Calculator, India Post PPF Calculator or HDFC PPF Calculator are unnecessary. This is because interest rate, maturity, taxation and withdrawal rules are determined by the government hence, remain the same irrespective of where the PPF account is opened.

How to use PPF Calculator?

To use the PPF calculator correctly, you need to provide the following data:

• Tenure of the PPF account – Minimum 15 years to max 50 years with an option of extension in blocks of 5 years.
• Deposit/Payment Frequency – This can be chosen as monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annually. In case of quarterly deposits made every quarter, half-yearly deposits mean twice each year and so on.
• Deposit Amount – This is the amount that is to be deposited in the account as per the deposit frequency. Thus if the deposit amount is Rs. 1000 and Deposit Frequency is monthly, total PPF deposit for the year will be Rs. 12,000 and automatically calculated by the PPF calculator.
• Interest Rate – This is the PPF rate of return that you are expecting on your investment. In case you are wondering how to calculate PPF interest rate, don’t worry, just check the latest PPF interest rates online!

Once you have provided the above data into the PPF calculator, just click on “Calculate” to get instant information about PPF maturity amount, PPF Interest earned, total PPF investment and much more.

PPF Calculation Formula & Basic Rules

PPF calculation uses the compound interest calculation formula and the compounding of the PPF principal occurs annually i.e once a year. The PPF calculation formula is as follows:

A = P(1+r)^t

Where, A= PPF Maturity Amount, P=PPF Principal amount invested, R= PPF rate of interest, T=Time period you are staying invested in the PPF account. From the above PPF interest calculation formula it is obvious that the longer you stay invested, greater is the amount of interest you can earn on your PPF account.

There are some key rules that you need to bear in mind too. Some key calculation of PPF rules are as follows:

• The maximum amount you can invest in a year is Rs. 1.5 lakh annually
• The minimum you can invest in PPF account is Rs. 500 annually
• Compounding of interest occurs once every year at the end of the financial year
• The maturity of PPF account is in 15 years and the proceeds are completely tax-free
• PPF rate is liable to change every quarter as per announcements made by the Finance Ministry

PPF Calculation for investment periods of:

• 15 years
• 20 years
• 30 years

To understand how the power of compounding works in your favour when it comes to PPF calculation, let’s consider the following table which shows the principal invested, the PPF interest earned and the PPF maturity value for 15, 20 and 30 year periods*:

In this PPF calculation example, we have assumed that the annual investment amount is Rs. 10,000 and the PPF interest rate is 7.1% per annum (current PPF interest rate for Q3 of FY 2020-21 is 7.1%).

The above example shows the power of compounding when investing in PPF – your maturity amount increases from Rs. 2.9 lakh to Rs. 12 lakh just by investing Rs. 1.5 lakh more over a 15 year period as long as you stay invested in your PPF account for 30 years instead of 15 years.

How to Understand the Results

The results provided by the online PPF calculator includes a table displaying key data that current and prospective PPF subscribers need to be aware of:

Opening Balance: This is the PPF account balance at the start of the year.

Amount Deposited: This is the PPF account balance at the end of the year after additional deposits have been made during the year.

Interest Earned: This is calculated based on the account balance at the end of the year. The balance in a PPF account is compounded on an annual basis.

Closing Balance: This is calculated by adding the interest earned from the current year to the opening balance and the additional deposits for the year.

Loan (Max.): Loan on PPF is available from completion of the 3^rd year onwards till the end of the 6^th year calculated from the date of account opening. The maximum loan available equals 25% of the opening balance of the PPF account for the previous year. After completion of the 6^th year from the date of PPF account opening, no loan can be opted for but partial withdrawals can be made. The maximum loan amounts in the table are based on the assumption that no loan has been taken during the previous year.

Withdrawal (Max.): Partial withdrawal from PPF account is allowed after completion of the 6^th year i.e. the beginning of the 7^th year onwards. The maximum withdrawal amount is the lesser among 50% of the account balance at the end of the previous year calculated from year in which withdrawal is made or 50% of the account balance at the end of the 4^th year preceding the year in which withdrawal was opted for. The Withdrawal (Max.) amounts provided by the online PPF calculator are based on the assumption that no withdrawals/loans have been taken by the account holder in the previous year.

Tax Benefit of PPF Investments

Investments in the Public Provident Fund are subject to tax deduction benefits up to the cumulative limit of Rs. 1.5 lakhs u/s 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Moreover, PPF investments are classified as an EEE (exempt, exempt, exempt) which means that the principal investment, the maturity amount and the interest earned are completely exempt from taxation.

Loan against PPF

The option of loan against PPF is available from the 3^rd year calculated from the account opening date till the end of the 6^th year of the PPF account. The amount that can be availed as a loan is linked to the total value of PPF deposits plus any accrued interest.

The amount that is availed as a loan against PPF as calculated by the PPF return calculator is equal to 25% of the PPF balance in the account for the year preceding the year of PPF loan application. For example, if you apply for a PPF account in March 2019, the qualifying amount will be calculated based on the closing balance in March 2018.

Know More About PPF Account for Minors: Eligibility, Documents Required & Taxation

PPF Loan Calculation

Let’s assume that you have invested Rs. 10,000 per year in your PPF account for the past 3 years, in that case, your total investment for the period will be Rs. 30,000 while the PPF maturity amount for the period will be Rs. 34, 994. At the end of that year,  you can withdraw a maximum of Rs. 2698 as a loan against PPF i.e. 25% of the PPF balance at the end of the 1^st year. Similarly, as per the current loan against PPF calculation rules, in the 6^th year, you will be able to withdraw Rs. 12,137 i.e. 25% of PPF balance at the end of the 4^th year.

PPF Calculation in Excel Format

If you wish to use an offline version of the PPF calculation tool instead of the online PPF calculator, you can download the calculation in excel format by clicking on the link below. The excel file is easy to understand and can be used even without the internet.

Link to access the excel file

PPF Withdrawal Rules

The PPF account matures after completion of 15 years calculated from the day the account was opened. After maturity, the entire PPF account balance can be withdrawn. However, after the end of the 6^th year, PPF subscribers are allowed to make partial withdrawals from their account. The qualifying amount for partial PPF withdrawal is automatically calculated by the PPF calculator and is the lesser of the following amounts:

Option1. 50% of the PPF account balance in the year preceding the year of a loan application or

Option2. 50% of the PPF account balance in the 4^th financial year preceding the year of the loan application.

Know More About PPF withdrawal rules

What are recent PPF Interest Rates?

As of Q3 (October – December) FY 2020-21, the PPF interest rate is 7.1% p.a. and the PPF account balance is compounded annually. The interest rate applicable to the Public Provident Fund is decided by the Ministry of Finance and is liable to change every quarter. You can use the calculator to get PPF returns based on different interest rates. The following are the recent quarter-wise historic PPF interest rates for FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19:

Read : Different Modes of Payment for Public Provident Fund