PPF Calculator

How to use this PPF calculator

Pick your currency, then enter how much you plan to invest each year, the interest rate set by the government, and the number of years you will stay invested. The calculator instantly shows your maturity value, the total you put in, and the tax-free interest you earn. Adjust the sliders to see how a higher yearly deposit or a longer term changes the outcome. The Public Provident Fund (PPF) is a popular long-term, government-backed savings scheme in India with a 15-year lock-in, so the defaults reflect a typical full-term plan.

How this is calculated

We treat each yearly deposit as earning annual compound interest. With a yearly investment A, rate r and term of n years, the maturity value is A × ((1 + r)ⁿ − 1) / r. Your total invested is simply A × n, and the tax-free interest is the maturity value minus what you put in. This is a clean annual-compounding estimate; an actual PPF account credits interest based on the minimum monthly balance, so real figures may differ slightly depending on when you deposit each year.

Educational estimate, not investment advice — see our disclaimer.

A worked example

Suppose you invest ₹1,50,000 every year — the current maximum — at 7.1% for the full 15-year lock-in. Over those years you contribute ₹22,50,000 of your own money. Thanks to annual compounding, the account grows to roughly ₹40,68,000 at maturity, meaning you earn about ₹18,18,000 in interest — and under current rules that interest is entirely tax-free. The longer you keep the account running (you can extend in five-year blocks), the more the interest portion outweighs your deposits.

Why the rate keeps changing

The PPF interest rate is set by the government and reviewed every quarter, so the figure that applies to your account can move up or down over the years. That makes the maturity number here an estimate rather than a guarantee — if rates fall, your final balance will be lower than a single fixed-rate projection suggests, and if they rise it will be higher. For planning, it is sensible to test a slightly lower rate as well as the current one. If you also hold a bank deposit, compare the after-tax return using our FD calculator, since FD interest is usually taxable while PPF interest is not.

Tips to get the most from PPF

• Deposit early in the year — interest is calculated on the minimum monthly balance, so funding the account before the 5th of April can earn you a full year of interest on that contribution.
• Stay the full term — the power of compounding shows up most in the later years, so resist withdrawing early where possible.
• Use it for tax-efficient goals — because both the interest and the maturity amount are tax-free under current rules, PPF suits long-horizon goals like retirement or a child's education.
• Extend in blocks — after 15 years you can extend in five-year periods, with or without fresh contributions, to keep the tax-free growth going.