Once your Public Provident Fund, or PPF, account has completed the mandatory 15 years, you have three options.
- Withdraw the entire amount.
- Extend for 5 years with additional subscription.
- Extend for 5 years with no additional subscription.
If you wish to extend it with additional subscriptions over the next 5 years, then you will have to fill a Form H where the account is held.
This decision must be made within one year from the date of maturity of the account. If you fail to do so, then by default the account is deemed to have been extended without further contribution for a period of 5 years. In other words, it will be automatically renewed for 5 years and no further contribution will be expected from you over this period. The balance in the account will continue to earn the designated rate of interest.
Once the choice is made for a block of 5 years, it cannot be changed. So once an account is continued without contribution for any year, the subscriber cannot change over to a with-contributions extension.
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