Do you have more than one PPF account? Government issues guidelines for merging Public Provident Fund accounts

No one is authorized to open more than one Caisse publique de Prévoyance (FPP) account in their name. You can open a PPF account in a bank or in a post office, but only one account can be opened in your name. If there are multiple PPF accounts, one of them must be closed. The government recently issued rules and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to deal with PPF account mergers.

Whenever a depositor has opened more than one PPF account, the second and subsequent accounts opened are considered irregular, as a natural person can only open one account under the PPF regime.

When more than one PPF account is held by a natural person with one or more operating agencies (operating agencies designate the Post and Bank Department) against the provisions of the PPF rules, the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance, in relaxation of the rules, issues orders for the merger of the accounts of PPF subscribers, for the regularization of deposits / irregular accounts.

Where deposits made to the two accounts taken together are below the prescribed deposit limit, as applicable to the account from time to time, may be merged and the account holder will be given the option of maintaining the account of their choice. PPF accounts from the same farm could easily be merged at farm level by adopting the PPF account transfer procedure.

If there is an unpaid loan in one of the PPF accounts to be merged, the depositor must repay the entire unpaid loan amount plus interest. That is, if there is a PPF loan account, it should be closed before the accounts are merged. 5. During the merger process, interest calculation should be done manually by the main post offices.

When the deposits made in the two accounts taken together exceed the prescribed deposit limit (currently Rs 1.5 lakh), applicable from time to time, the excess amount exceeding the limit will be refunded to the subscriber of the account to be merged without any interest. .

It is important to note that the PPF account in the name of a minor is treated separately and that a parent is allowed to open a separate minor account in addition to the account in their own name.