public provident fund calculator: Real Maturity Value, Extension & Withdrawal Rules (2026)
Calculate your Public Provident Fund (PPF) maturity value at the current 7.1% interest rate, using the real month-by-month compounding method — not a simplified annual estimate. Supports an existing balance, monthly or yearly deposits, 5-year account extensions, and partial withdrawal eligibility from the 7th year. Works identically whether your account is at India Post, SBI, HDFC, ICICI, PNB, or any other authorised bank.
How to Use This PPF Calculator
The PPF Maturity Calculator tab uses the real month-by-month interest method (not a simplified annual estimate) to project your account's growth — enter any existing balance, choose monthly or yearly deposits, and see exactly how your corpus builds year by year. The Extend Your PPF (Pension) tab models what happens after your account matures at 15 years, if you extend it in 5-year blocks with or without further deposits — a common strategy for turning PPF into a retirement income source. The Partial Withdrawal tab tells you exactly how much you're allowed to withdraw once you're past the 7th year, using the real "lower of two 50%" rule the government actually applies.
What Is Public Provident Fund (PPF)?
Public Provident Fund is one of India's oldest and most trusted long-term small savings schemes, backed by a sovereign guarantee from the Government of India. It combines a guaranteed, government-set interest rate with full EEE (Exempt-Exempt-Exempt) tax treatment, a 15-year investment horizon suited to long-term goals like retirement or a child's education, and built-in flexibility through partial withdrawals, loans against the balance, and indefinite 5-year extensions after maturity. It remains one of the very few instruments in India offering guaranteed, tax-free compounding over such a long period.
Current PPF Interest Rate (2026)
The PPF interest rate for the July-September 2026 quarter is 7.1% per annum — unchanged for nine consecutive quarters, since April 2020. PPF is a "floating rate" scheme: the Ministry of Finance reviews and notifies the rate every quarter, and whatever rate is in force applies to your entire balance for that quarter — not just to new deposits. This is different from fixed-rate small savings products like NSC or the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, where the rate is locked in at the time of investment for the full tenure. Compare: Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana currently offers 8.2%, Kisan Vikas Patra 7.5%, and NSC 7.7% — PPF's rate is lower than some of these, but it comes with far greater flexibility (partial withdrawals, loans, no restriction to a specific beneficiary).
Is SBI PPF Different From Post Office PPF?
This is worth stating clearly since "SBI PPF calculator," "post office PPF calculator," and "HDFC PPF calculator" are all extremely common searches, as though they might be different products with different returns. They aren't — this calculator's numbers apply equally no matter which bank or post office your passbook is from.
How PPF Interest Is Actually Calculated
This is the detail most simplified PPF calculators get wrong. Interest is calculated every month on the lowest balance in your account between the 5th and the last day of that month, at one-twelfth of the annual rate. A deposit made on or before the 5th of a month earns interest for that entire month; a deposit made after the 5th only starts earning interest from the following month. All 12 months' interest is added up and credited to your account just once, on 31 March every year. This calculator's engine models this month-by-month behaviour directly rather than applying a single annual compounding formula, which is why the numbers here are more accurate than many simplified online tools — and why depositing your full annual amount as a lump sum in early April can noticeably outperform spreading the same total across 12 monthly instalments.
Minimum, Maximum, and 80C Tax Benefit
You must deposit at least ₹500 in a financial year to keep a PPF account active, and you can deposit up to ₹1.5 lakh in a financial year across all your PPF accounts combined (including any minor's account you operate). Amounts beyond ₹1.5 lakh in a year earn no interest and no tax deduction, and are usually refunded without interest. Every rupee you deposit, up to that ₹1.5 lakh limit, qualifies for a deduction under Section 80C — shared with other 80C instruments like ELSS, life insurance premiums, and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, so plan your combined 80C investments accordingly, only under the old tax regime.
Partial Withdrawal: The Real "Lower of Two 50%" Rule
From the 7th financial year onward, you can make one partial withdrawal per financial year. The amount you're allowed to withdraw is the lower of: 50% of the balance at the end of the 4th financial year immediately preceding the year of withdrawal, or 50% of the balance at the end of the year immediately preceding the withdrawal. This two-part rule exists so that withdrawals stay tied to your account's more established, older balance rather than a balance inflated by a very recent large deposit. The Partial Withdrawal tab above runs this exact rule against your own deposit pattern.
Loan Against PPF (Years 3 to 6)
Separately from partial withdrawal, you can take a loan against your PPF balance between the 3rd and 6th financial year — before partial withdrawals even become available. The maximum loan is 25% of the balance at the end of the 2nd financial year immediately preceding the year you apply, at an interest rate roughly 1 percentage point above the prevailing PPF rate. The loan principal must be repaid within 36 months, after which any pending interest is settled in at most two monthly instalments. This is a useful short-term liquidity option in the early years, before the account is old enough for partial withdrawal.
What Happens After 15-Year Maturity
At maturity, you have three real choices: withdraw the entire balance tax-free and close the account; extend the account in blocks of 5 years with continued deposits, keeping it an active investment; or extend it in 5-year blocks without further deposits, simply letting the existing balance keep compounding. You can repeat this 5-year extension indefinitely. During an extension with deposits, one withdrawal per financial year is allowed, up to 60% of the balance that existed at the start of that particular 5-year block. Many people use an extension-without-deposits approach after retirement as an informal pension: the balance keeps earning a guaranteed, tax-free 7.1%, while limited annual withdrawals provide some income — the Extend Your PPF tab above lets you model exactly this.
Is PPF Regulated by SEBI or RBI?
No — PPF is not a security, so it doesn't fall under SEBI's jurisdiction, and it isn't a conventional bank deposit product, so the RBI doesn't directly regulate it either. Like Kisan Vikas Patra and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, PPF is a Government of India small savings scheme administered by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, through the National Savings Institute, and made available through India Post and authorised banks. Its safety rests on the sovereign guarantee of the Government of India.
PPF vs Other Long-Term Options
PPF vs Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana: SSY currently offers a higher 8.2% rate but is restricted to a girl child's account with a fixed 21-year horizon; PPF is open to any resident Indian adult with a flexible, indefinitely extendable 15-year-plus tenure and added liquidity through loans and partial withdrawal.
PPF vs KVP: Kisan Vikas Patra simply doubles your money over a fixed period with a 2.5-year lock-in and full taxability on maturity interest; PPF offers full tax exemption and far more flexibility, though at a typically lower headline rate.
PPF vs equity SIPs: PPF offers a guaranteed, tax-free, zero-risk return; equity SIPs (see the SIP Calculator) carry market risk but have historically compounded faster over 15+ years — most long-term investors use both together rather than choosing one over the other.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Depositing after the 5th of the month out of habit, losing that month's interest every single time — a small but entirely avoidable cost that compounds over 15+ years.
- Spreading deposits evenly across the year instead of depositing the full amount in early April, if you can afford to — the difference over 15 years runs into lakhs on a maximum-deposit account.
- Forgetting that the ₹1.5 lakh annual limit applies across ALL your PPF accounts (including any account you operate for a minor), not per account.
- Assuming partial withdrawal is available before the 7th year, or confusing it with the separate, earlier-available loan facility (3rd-6th year).
- Letting an account lapse by missing the ₹500 minimum deposit — it can be revived later, but only after paying the shortfall plus a penalty for each defaulted year.
Building a Complete Financial Plan
PPF works best as the guaranteed, tax-free anchor of a long-term portfolio rather than its only component. For market-linked growth alongside it, see the SIP Calculator and the Bitcoin SIP Calculator India. If you're drawing down investments in retirement, the SWP Calculator with Inflation India models a systematic withdrawal plan, and the Reverse CAGR Calculator tells you what return any goal actually needs. Compare other guaranteed instruments with the Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) Calculator and, for a daughter's education or marriage fund, the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana Calculator. The Gold vs Inflation Hedge Calculator and LIC Term Plan Calculator round out a balanced plan, and once you know your real take-home pay via the CTC to In-Hand Salary Calculator, you'll know exactly how much you can commit to PPF each month. For equity investors, the Stock Average Down Calculator and Universal Brokerage Calculator India help manage trading costs.
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