PPF Withdrawal Rules: You can withdraw PPF money before 15 years, know this easy way

PPF Withdrawal Rules: Public Provident Fund i.e. PPF is a great way to secure your future. Most people invest in it for a long time. Its maturity is 15 years. Many people think that money cannot be withdrawn from PPF before 15 years. But this is not true. If you are in dire need of money, the government has provided the facility to withdraw the amount before the maturity date. The rules for withdrawing money from PPF are completely different from normal savings accounts. Let’s understand when and how you can withdraw your money.

Withdrawal starts from 7th year

Partial withdrawal (withdrawal of some money) in PPF starts from 7th financial year. For this, it is required that five financial years have been completed after the year in which you opened the account. If you opened your PPF account in FY 2020-21, you can withdraw money from FY 2026-27.

How much money can be withdrawn from the account

A limit has been fixed for withdrawing money. For this two types of balances are observed. The first is how much money you had in your account at the end of the last financial year. Second, what was your account balance four years prior to the year you are withdrawing the money. You can withdraw 50 percent of the amount which is lower of the two.

Understand this with an example. Suppose you had Rs 8 lakh in your PPF at the end of the last financial year. Four years ago this balance was 6 lakh rupees. In such a situation only 6 lakh rupees will be considered Aadhaar. That means you can withdraw a maximum of 3 lakh rupees. Withdrawal can be done only once in a financial year.

What options will there be after 15 years?

The maturity period of PPF is 15 years. This time is calculated from the end of the financial year in which the account is opened. After completion of 15 years, you can withdraw the entire amount with interest. If you don’t want to withdraw money, you can continue this further. There are two ways to do this. You can continue it without depositing new money, on which you will continue to earn interest. If you want to continue investing, PPF can be extended in blocks of 5 years.

Conditions for premature account closure

Generally, the entire amount cannot be withdrawn before maturity. But in some special circumstances, after completion of 5 years, PPF account can be closed prematurely. This includes needs such as treatment of serious illness and higher education. The account can also be closed if the account holder becomes an NRI. But doing so reduces the interest you get by 1 percent.

If the account holder dies due to any reason, there is no need to wait for the maturity period. The entire amount of the account is given to the nominee or legal heir. PPF is a long-term investment, it should not be considered as an account for day-to-day expenses. But its withdrawal facility comes in handy when needed.