The Government has created few modifications to the Public Provident Fund (PPF) rules. The PPF plan has been notified from 12th December 2019. Here we are talking about some changes related to the PPF scheme. If you have taken a loan in lieu of your PPF account, the first PPF interest rate under the PPF scheme 1968 was fixed at the rate of 2% per annum. That means, if the PPF interest rate was 8%, you had to pay an interest rate of 10%. Now the PPF scheme has been reduced to 1% from 2019. So if the PPF interest rate is 8%, you will now have to pay at the rate of 9% on your loan.
In 2016, the Government had approved the premature closing of the PPF account. The account which has been opened in the PPF scheme 2019 is authorized to be discontinued prematurely after fulfillment of 5 fiscal years at the end of that year. However, for this, a specific form 5 has been formed under the PPF scheme 2019. Earlier, the Government had approved premature closure of the PPF account in case of any dangerous diseases or life-threatening concerning the account holder, spouse, and dependent kids or parents. There has been no change in it.
In the PPF scheme 1968, deposits were permitted to be placed in the sum of 5 times. A maximum of 12 deposits were approved in 1 year. Deposits are allowed in multiples of Rs 50 in the PPF scheme 2019. Let me tell you that there is no separate higher limit on the number of deposits. You can deposit as many times as you want in your PPF account to the highest limit. The minimum yearly contribution limit in a year has been kept at Rs 500, while the maximum annual contribution has been maintained at Rs 1.5 lakh. As per the PPF scheme 1968, NRIs are not allowed to open any PPF account. However, a person who later becomes an NRI during the maturity time period can continue to contribute to PPF until its maturity.
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