PPF Account: A person can have only one PPF account. However, many times people accidentally open more than one PPF account. If this has happened to you as well, remember that you can merge these accounts.
PPF Account: Public Provident Fund (PPF) is a great investment option. The biggest reason for this is that the risk in investing in PPF is almost zero as it is fully protected by the government. Along with this, it also gives great returns. The central government revises the interest rate on the PPF account every quarter. The interest rate is usually 7 percent to 8 percent, which may increase or decrease slightly depending on the economic situation. At present, the interest rate is 7.1 percent, which is compounded annually. This is more than the fixed deposits of many banks.
It is important to note that a person can have only one PPF account. However, many times people accidentally open more than one PPF account. If this has happened to you as well, remember that you can merge these accounts.
Postal department circular
The Department of Posts had recently issued a circular in this regard, which said that if the depositor opens more than one PPF account, then the second and subsequent accounts are considered irregular.
In such cases, considering the requests of the PPF subscribers, the Department of Economic Affairs, relaxing the rules, regularizes such irregular accounts/deposits by merging more than one PPF account into one account.
On receipt of the Finance Ministry’s consent for merging more than one PPF account, the post offices will follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for merging the accounts.
How to apply
The merger of PPF accounts requires negotiation between different operating agencies (banks or post offices).
For merger, the depositor has to take the photocopy of the passbook / account details to the office (post office or bank) where he wants to maintain the account.
After this, this office contacts the office where the account is to be merged and requests to verify / send the details of the annual subscription for the financial years.
Keep these things in mind
- The maturity and other things will be decided from the date of opening the account in which you will merge the other account.
- The date of actual transfer / balance in the account, loan / withdrawal etc. will also be considered as the main date.
- If there is any outstanding loan in any of the PPF accounts to be merged, then the entire outstanding loan amount along with interest will have to be paid.
