PPF Calculator
See what your yearly PPF deposits grow into — fully tax-free.
Plan your PPF
PPF allows ₹500–₹1,50,000 per financial year.
Reset by the government each quarter; 7.1% is current.
15-year lock-in, extendable in 5-year blocks.
Results update live — calculations run in your browser, no signup.
₹40.68 L
Maturity after 15 years — 1.81× your ₹22.50 L contribution, fully tax-free
Assumes each deposit lands at the start of the financial year, compounded annually at a constant 7.1%. The rate is reset quarterly — treat this as an estimate.
Deposit, tax-free interest credited and closing balance for each of the 15 years. Milestone years at a glance: Y4 ₹7.14L · Y8 ₹16.54L · Y11 ₹25.49L · Y15 ₹40.68L.
| Year | Deposit | Interest | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | ₹1.50 L | ₹10,650 | ₹1.61 L |
| Year 2 | ₹1.50 L | ₹22,056 | ₹3.33 L |
| Year 3 | ₹1.50 L | ₹34,272 | ₹5.17 L |
| Year 4 | ₹1.50 L | ₹47,355 | ₹7.14 L |
| Year 5 | ₹1.50 L | ₹61,368 | ₹9.26 L |
| Year 6 | ₹1.50 L | ₹76,375 | ₹11.52 L |
| Year 7 | ₹1.50 L | ₹92,447 | ₹13.95 L |
| Year 8 | ₹1.50 L | ₹1.10 L | ₹16.54 L |
| Year 9 | ₹1.50 L | ₹1.28 L | ₹19.32 L |
| Year 10 | ₹1.50 L | ₹1.48 L | ₹22.30 L |
| Year 11 | ₹1.50 L | ₹1.69 L | ₹25.49 L |
| Year 12 | ₹1.50 L | ₹1.92 L | ₹28.91 L |
| Year 13 | ₹1.50 L | ₹2.16 L | ₹32.57 L |
| Year 14 | ₹1.50 L | ₹2.42 L | ₹36.49 L |
| Year 15 | ₹1.50 L | ₹2.70 L | ₹40.68 L |
Because interest is exempt, your 7.1% PPF behaves like a 10.1%taxable FD — you'd need a bank FD paying over 10.1% to match it after a 30% slab.
PPF vs a taxable FD — the EEE advantage
Same ₹1,50,000/yr at 7.1% for 15 years. In a taxable deposit, each year's interest is taxed at a 30% slab — PPF keeps all of it.
Taxable FD (same rate)
₹33.90 L
−₹4.89 L lost to tax
PPF (tax-free)
₹40.68 L
interest fully exempt
+₹6.78 L
extra in your hand at maturity, purely from PPF's tax-free interest
Extend your PPF
After 15 years, extend in 5-year blocks with fresh deposits.
| Tenure | Maturity | Extra wealth |
|---|---|---|
| 15 years | ₹40.68 L | — |
| 20 years | ₹66.58 L | +₹25.90 L |
| 25 years | ₹1.03 Cr | +₹62.40 L |
Extra wealth is the additional maturity vs stopping at 15 years, assuming you keep depositing ₹1,50,000/yr at 7.1%.
Contribution scenarios
What different annual contributions mature to over the same 15 years at 7.1% — the 80C cap is ₹1,50,000/yr.
| Yearly deposit | Total contributed | Interest earned | Maturity |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹25,000/yr | ₹3.75 L | ₹3.03 L | ₹6.78 L |
| ₹50,000/yr | ₹7.50 L | ₹6.06 L | ₹13.56 L |
| ₹1.00 L/yr | ₹15.00 L | ₹12.12 L | ₹27.12 L |
| ₹1.25 L/yr | ₹18.75 L | ₹15.15 L | ₹33.90 L |
| ₹1.50 L/yr | ₹22.50 L | ₹18.18 L | ₹40.68 L |
Highlighted row matches your current plan. Contributions shown stay within the ₹1,50,000 yearly 80C cap.
Monthly vs annual deposit
PPF credits interest yearly on the lowest monthly balance, so funding the full year before April 5th earns slightly more than spreading it monthly.
Lump sum in April
₹40.68 L
Spread monthly
₹39.45 L
Depositing early earns +₹1.24 L more over 15 years — same money, better timing.
The cost of skipping contributions
Pausing deposits early in the term costs the most — those rupees miss the most compounding.
Skip 3 years
matures to ₹29.69 L
−₹10.99 L
wealth lost
Skip 5 years
matures to ₹23.52 L
−₹17.16 L
wealth lost
Modelled as pausing deposits right after opening the account, then resuming — the balance still compounds, but the missed deposits never catch up.
- 45% of your maturity is tax-free interest — money you never deposited.
- Depositing before April 5 each year earns +₹1.24 L more than spreading it monthly.
- At 7.1%, your money doubles roughly every 10.2 years.
Key insight
Depositing ₹1,50,000 a year for 15 years grows to ₹40.68 L — fully tax-free, with ₹18.18 L of it pure interest you keep entirely. Because the interest is exempt, that 7.1% behaves like a 10.1% taxable FD, handing you about ₹6.78 L more than the same deposit in a taxable account. After 6% inflation, it's worth ₹16.98 L in today's money.
Key takeaways
- Total contributed: ₹22,50,000
- Tax-free interest: ₹18.18 L (45% of maturity)
- Maturity in 15 years: ₹40.68 L
- Pre-tax equivalent: 10.1% taxable (at 30% slab)
- Tax-free edge: +₹6.78 L vs a taxable FD
Where your maturity comes from
45% of your maturity comes from tax-free compounding — only 55% is the money you put in.
Money doubles in
10.2 years
Rule of 72 at 7.1%
Why invest in PPF
EEE — triple tax-free
Deposits qualify for 80C, the interest is exempt, and the maturity is tax-free. Few instruments are tax-free at all three stages.
Sovereign-guaranteed
Backed by the Government of India — no credit risk. Your principal and the credited interest are secure.
Forces discipline
The 15-year lock-in turns small annual deposits into a serious tax-free corpus, without the temptation to dip in.
Loan facility
You can take a loan against your PPF balance from year 3 to year 6 — handy liquidity without breaking the account.
Partial withdrawal
From year 7, you can make one partial withdrawal each year, so the money isn't fully out of reach in an emergency.
Beats a taxable FD
At a 30% slab, a 7.1% tax-free PPF equals a 10.1% taxable FD — a return hard to match safely.
Open a zero-balance savings account online
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Your plan: ₹1.50 L/year for 15 years → about ₹40.68 L, tax-free.
Plan the rest of your money life
See how PPF sits beside EPF, NPS, deposits and a monthly SIP in your plan.
PPF caps deposits at ₹1,50,000 a year and has a 15-year lock-in (extendable in 5-year blocks, with partial withdrawals from year 7). It is EEE — deposits qualify for an 80C deduction up to ₹1,50,000, interest is tax-free, and maturity is exempt. The pre-tax-equivalent rate assumes a 30% slab; at a lower slab the edge is smaller. The rate is reset quarterly by the government, so the maturity figure is an estimate, not a guarantee.
How a PPF maturity is calculated
FV = P × [ ((1 + i)ⁿ − 1) ÷ i ] × (1 + i)
- FV
- future value (tax-free maturity)
- P
- yearly deposit
- i
- annual rate = rate ÷ 100
- n
- number of years (the tenure)
Worked example
With your inputs — ₹1.50 L/year at 7.1% for 15 years: each deposit lands at the start of the financial year and earns a full year of interest, so i = 0.071 and n = 15. You contribute ₹22.50 L in all, and tax-free annual compounding adds about ₹18.18 L of interest, for a maturity of about ₹40.68L. This assumes a level deposit at a constant 7.1% — the rate resets quarterly, so treat it as an estimate, not a guarantee.
Most asked PPF questions
The Public Provident Fund is a government-backed savings scheme with a 15-year term. You can deposit ₹500 to ₹1,50,000 per financial year, the balance compounds annually, and both the interest and maturity are fully tax-free.
It depends on the goal. PPF gives a sovereign-guaranteed, fully tax-free return — its real edge is that you keep every rupee of interest, while a taxable deposit at the same rate hands ~30% of its interest to tax at the top slab. For a long-horizon, capital-safe goal (a child's education, a retirement floor) that tax-free compounding is hard to beat among debt instruments. The trade-off is the 15-year lock-in and the fact that equity has historically returned more over the same horizon, with more volatility.
Because PPF interest is exempt, its return equals a higher pre-tax return. At a 30% slab, a 7.1% tax-free PPF is equivalent to a roughly 10.1% taxable fixed deposit — you'd need a bank FD paying over 10% to match it after tax. This page shows the exact pre-tax-equivalent rate and the extra rupees PPF keeps versus an identical taxable deposit.
PPF has a 15-year lock-in measured from the end of the financial year you open it. After that you can withdraw the full balance, or extend in blocks of 5 years — with or without further deposits. Partial withdrawals are allowed from year 7 onward.
Yes. Deposits qualify for a Section 80C deduction of up to ₹1,50,000 a year, the interest credited each year is tax-free, and the maturity amount is exempt too. This EEE (exempt-exempt-exempt) status is what makes PPF attractive.
No. The government resets the PPF rate every quarter, so it can rise or fall over your tenure. 7.1% is the current rate — this calculator holds it constant for the projection, so treat the maturity figure as an estimate, not a guarantee.
The complete guide to PPF
Why the tax-free status matters so much
The Public Provident Fund's headline rate looks modest, but it is fully tax-free at every stage — deposits, interest and maturity are all exempt (EEE). That changes the comparison entirely. A taxable fixed deposit hands roughly a third of its interest to tax at the top slab, so to actually keep a 7.1% return after a 30% slab you'd need a deposit paying about 10.1%. Among capital-safe, sovereign-guaranteed instruments, that pre-tax-equivalent return is very hard to beat.
How the maturity is calculated
This calculator assumes a fixed deposit at the start of each financial year, so each contribution earns a full year of interest, compounded annually: each year the opening balance plus the new deposit earns the rate, and that interest is added back. Because the rate can move every quarter, the figure is a planning estimate, not a guarantee.
Extending PPF beyond 15 years
After the 15-year lock-in you can withdraw everything, or extend the account in 5-year blocks — with or without fresh deposits. Extending keeps the tax-free compounding running on a much larger base, which is why the maturity jumps so sharply from 15 to 20 to 25 years in the table above. Many savers use this to build a retirement floor.
PPF vs FD vs equity
An FD is more liquid and its rate is locked the day you book it, but the interest is taxed at your slab, so the post-tax return is well below the headline. PPF trades that liquidity for a tax-free return and an 80C deduction. Equity (via index funds or SIPs) has historically delivered higher long-run returns than either, but with real volatility and no guarantee — which is why many savers use PPF as the safe core and equity for growth.
Don't skip contributions
Because PPF compounds annually, the rupees you deposit in the early years do the most work — they have the longest runway. Skipping even a few years early on permanently lowers your maturity, as the missed-contribution table shows. If cash is tight, the ₹500 minimum keeps the account active and avoids the small reactivation penalty.
Making the most of PPF
Deposit before the 5th of the month (interest is calculated on the lowest balance between the 5th and month-end), and ideally fund the full ₹1,50,000 early in the financial year so it earns a full year of interest. After 15 years you can extend in 5-year blocks, keeping the tax-free compounding going. These figures are planning estimates — confirm the current rate and rules before depositing.