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PPF Calculator

Calculators · Added 14 August 2026

Enter what you deposit each financial year, the rate currently notified and how long you intend to run the account, and this calculator projects the balance year by year to maturity. The statutory minimum and maximum deposits are enforced, because a figure calculated on an amount the scheme will not accept is worse than no figure at all.

₹500 to ₹1,50,000 a year.

%

Set by the government each quarter — check the current one.

yrs

15 years minimum, then 5-year extensions.

How to use the ppf calculator

  1. 1Enter your yearly deposit. The scheme requires at least ₹500 a year to stay active and caps contributions at ₹1,50,000 per financial year.
  2. 2Enter the current interest rate. It is notified by the government every quarter, so check the present figure rather than relying on the placeholder.
  3. 3Set the period. The account runs for 15 years and can then be extended in blocks of five.
  4. 4Press Calculate to see the maturity value and the split between deposits and interest.
  5. 5Open the year-by-year table to see the opening balance, deposit, interest and closing balance for each year.

Examples

The maximum deposit over a full term

Input
₹1,50,000 a year at 7.1% for 15 years
Result
₹40,68,209 — ₹22,50,000 deposited and ₹18,18,209 of interest

Interest is around 45% of the final balance. Almost all of it accrues in the second half of the term.

A modest but consistent account

Input
₹50,000 a year at 7.1% for 15 years
Result
₹13,56,070 — ₹7,50,000 deposited and ₹6,06,070 of interest

The proportions are identical to the example above. PPF scales linearly with the deposit.

Extending beyond fifteen years

Input
₹1,50,000 a year at 7.1% for 25 years
Result
₹1,03,08,015

Ten more years roughly two and a half times the balance. The extension blocks are where compounding does its heaviest work.

About the ppf calculator

How PPF interest actually accrues

The rule that catches people is the monthly balance rule. Interest is computed on the lowest balance in the account between the 5th and the final day of each month, then credited once at the end of the financial year. A deposit made on the 4th counts for that month; the same deposit made on the 6th earns nothing until the following month.

Over a single year the difference is small. Over a fifteen-year account funded late every year, it compounds into a meaningful gap — enough that the timing of the deposit is a larger decision than most account holders realise. The projections here assume the whole year's contribution lands at the start of the financial year, which is the best case and the standard published assumption.

The compounding itself is annual, not monthly. Interest credited at the end of one year becomes part of the balance the next year earns on, and that is the whole mechanism. There is nothing exotic in the arithmetic; the scheme's advantages lie elsewhere.

Why the last five years dominate

Look at the year-by-year table and the shape is unmistakable. Early years are almost entirely deposits with a thin layer of interest. Somewhere around year nine or ten the annual interest credit begins to rival the annual deposit, and by the final years the account is earning substantially more each year than the holder is putting in.

This is the ordinary behaviour of compounding on a growing base, but PPF makes it unusually visible because the deposit is capped. The contribution cannot grow, so every increase in the annual interest credit comes purely from the balance. It is also the strongest argument for not closing an account at fifteen years if the money is not needed: the extension blocks begin exactly where the curve is steepest.

The corresponding warning is that the early years feel unrewarding, and they are supposed to. An account three years old that has earned a fraction of what was paid in is not underperforming; it is at the part of the curve where the deposits dominate and the interest has had almost nothing to work on.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the calculator make me enter the rate?
Because there is no such thing as the PPF rate. It is notified quarterly and has moved repeatedly over the years — a rate hardcoded into this page would quietly become wrong and would then be a false statement on a page about your money. The placeholder is a starting point to be checked against the current notification, not a figure this site is asserting.
When should I deposit to earn the most?
Before the 5th of the month, and ideally before 5 April for the whole year at once. Interest is calculated on the lowest balance between the 5th and the last day of each month, so a deposit made on the 6th earns nothing for that month. Depositing the full annual amount at the start of the financial year is what produces the figures this calculator shows.
What are the deposit limits?
A minimum of ₹500 in a financial year to keep the account active, and a maximum of ₹1,50,000. Deposits above the ceiling earn no interest and are simply returned. The limit applies across all accounts you hold, including one opened in the name of a minor you represent.
Can I withdraw before fifteen years?
Partially, and with conditions. A partial withdrawal is permitted from the seventh year, capped at a proportion of the earlier balance, and loans are available between the third and sixth years. Full closure before maturity is allowed only in specific circumstances such as serious illness or higher education, and carries an interest penalty. This calculator models an account left untouched.
Why does the projection assume one rate for the whole period?
For tractability, not realism. Nobody can know the rate fifteen years out, so the calculator does what every published PPF projection does and holds it constant. The right way to use the result is to run it again at a rate a percentage point lower and treat the pair as a range rather than the single number as a forecast.

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