PPF Calculator - Know how to Calculate Interest

About PPF Calculator

The Public Provident Fund (PPF) calculator is an online tool that helps individuals calculate the interest that they are earning when investing in the PPF scheme. The maturity amount, growth in investment, and the interest earned over the course of the 15-year investment can be calculated with the help of the online calculator.  

Apart from the PPF calculator being an easy tool to use, it also provides accurate details.  There are various PPF calculators available online. Depending on the PPF interest rate for the financial year, calculations are made. Given below is an example of how the PPF calculator works: 

Assumptions 

• Investment per year: Rs.1 lakh 
• Rate of interest: 7.6% 

The total maturity amount is Rs.28,32,196. Out of the maturity amount, the percentage of contribution is 53% and interest earned is 47%.    

Types of PPF Calculators

There are seven main types of PPF calculators which help people to calculate 6 different types of computations pertaining to PPF and based on usage and the other elements when using the calculator.

• PPF fixed monthly investment calculator:

  This tool helps individuals to calculate their payable amount for contributing towards PPF on a monthly basis. The tool requires individuals to enter the month of opening the account, the financial year of opening PPF account, fixed monthly investment or deposit and finally requires individuals to submit the details.

• PPF fixed yearly investment calculator:

  This tool helps individuals to calculate their payable amount for contributing towards PPF on a year on year basis, as the PPF interest rates do keep changing over time. The main details required on this tool includes the financial year of opening the PPF account and fixed annual investment or deposit.

• PPF variable yearly investment calculator:

  The variable yearly investment calculator requires individuals to enter basic information which includes financial year and amount deposited for each year. Also, the financial year of opening the PPF account has to be entered.

• PPF Benefits Calculator:

  This PPF Calculator involves various elements that include a fixed annual contribution, interest rate in that year, age group of the individual. Total income of the individual. Then for the main benefits, the following has is displayed:

  • Tax-free income
  • Income Tax liability before investment
  • Income Tax liability after investment
  • Annual tax savings and,
  • Total tax saving in 15 years
• PPF available loan calculator:

  This PPF loan calculator helps to compute the permissible loan amount, approximately. For this, the balance in the account has to be simply entered.

• PPF available withdrawal calculator (Before Extension/After Extension):

  Withdrawals are available to PPF contributors, once in a year from the PPF account after five years from the end of Financial Year in which the initial deposit was made expires. In other words is available for withdrawal from PPF account the seventh year. Both the withdrawal amounts before and after extension can be calculated on the online tool. Some websites have separate tools on the website.

• PPF Maturity Calculator:

  This PPF calculator simply helps you calculate the time when the PPF matures for amount withdrawals.

How to Calculate PPF?

An individual can easily calculate his/her PPF interest and thus, the maturity amount for a particular tenure with the help of the online PPF calculators. A number of Public Provident Fund calculators are available online and can be used for this purpose. They are free of cost and very easy to use.

The interest on PPF is calculated using a very simple formula. The formula can be expressed as follows: F = P[{(1+i)n-1}/i], where ‘F’ stands for the maturity amount of the PPF, ‘P’ stands for the annual instalments paid, ‘n’ stands for the number of years or tenure of the PPF, and ‘i’ stands for the rate of interest.

However, in case an individual uses a PPF calculator to calculate the same, he/she can just feed the details in respect to the investment amount and tenure of the PPF and know the estimated amount very easily. It should be noted that the interest on PPF is compounded on a yearly basis.

FAQ's

1. Where can I open a PPF account?

One can open a Public Provident Fund (PPF) Account at a post office or with a bank that is entitled to offer the PPF account facility. All the nationalised banks offers the facilities such as Punjab National Bank (PNB) and SBI PPF account. In addition to the nationalised banks, a number of private banks such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and HDFC Bank are also entitled to offer the PPF Account facility.

2. How to open a PPF account?

In order to open a PPF account, an applicant will be required to submit the KYC documents in addition to a duly filled and signed application form. For KYC, the applicant will be required to submit a proof of identity, address proof, and a signature proof. After the submission of the documents and the form, the amount towards the opening of the PPF account can be deposited.

3. What is the interest rate for PPF?

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for setting the rate of interest for PPF. This rate is set every year. The rate of interest as of December 2018 is set at 8%. The rate was revised in October 2018, prior to which it was 7.6%.

4. Which amount is taken into consideration for calculating the interest?

The interest on PPF is calculated on the lowest balance in the account between the closing balance on the 5th day of a month and the closing balance on the last day of the month.

5. Are the investments made for PPF eligible for tax benefits?

Yes, the investments made towards Public Provident Fund or PPF are eligible for tax benefits under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. The PPF is one of the few investment schemes that offer Exempt-Exempt-Exempt (EEE). Thus, in addition to the exemption on the deposited amount, an individual is also eligible to get tax exemption on the collective amount and the interest earned on the PPF account, at the time of withdrawal.

6. What is the lock-in period for Public Provident Fund?

The lock-in period for Public Provident Fund account is 15 years. However, partial withdrawal is allowed from the PPF account after the 7th year.