Benefit of PPF Investment by April 5: Public Provident Fund (PPF) is a small savings scheme known for its exempt-exempt-exempt status. Because of it, the amount invested, the interest earned, and the corpus created are tax-free. Due to this feature, a lot of investors keep it as part of their retirement portfolio. It also works as a strong debt portion in a mixed portfolio. Investors may make unlimited investments in PPF every year, subject to a maximum limit of Rs 1.50 lakh in a financial year. But do you know that you can maximise your PPF returns if you invest your entire amount from April 1 to 5 every financial year? Know how it may be possible! 

PPF investment limit

A person can open a PPF account in a post office or a bank with a minimum deposit of Rs 500. It is necessary to deposit the same amount to continue your PPF account, or else it will be discontinued. The maximum investment in a financial year can’t be more than Rs 1.50 lakh.

PPF interest rate

The small savings scheme offers a fixed interest rate of 7.1 per cent compounded annually. The rate is the same for a post office or a bank PPF account.

PPF maturity period

The maturity period of a PPF account is 15 years. After 15 years, the investors can either withdraw their corpus, or they can extend it for unlimited blocks of 5 years with or without fresh deposits.

How to get maximum return on Rs 1.50 lakh PPF investment 

As per the PPF rule, if you invest any amount from April 1 to 5 in a financial year, you get the maximum return from the 7.1 per cent interest rate.

The return is credited to the PPF account on March 31 every financial year.

So, if you invest Rs 1.50 lakh on those dates, you can build a larger corpus compared to when you spread out that investment throughout the financial year.

Let’s take the example of how your Rs 1.50 lakh investment made every financial year from April 1 to 5 can generate a large corpus in the long run.

PPF corpus from Rs 1.50 lakh investment in 15 years 

In 15 years, the total investment will be Rs 22,50,000, estimated interest will be Rs 18,18,209, and the estimated corpus will be Rs 40,68,209.

PPF corpus from Rs 1.50 lakh investment in 20 years

In 20 years, the total investment will be Rs 30,00,000, estimated interest will be Rs 36,58,288, and the estimated corpus will be Rs 66,58,288.

PPF corpus from Rs 1.50 lakh investment in 25 years

In 25 years, the total investment will be Rs 37,50,000, estimated interest will be Rs 65,58,015, and the estimated corpus will be Rs 1,03,08,015.

PPF corpus from Rs 1.50 lakh investment in 30 years

In 30 years, the total investment will be Rs 45,00,000, estimated interest will be Rs 1,09,50,911, and the estimated corpus will be Rs 1,54,50,911.