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https://www.livemint.com/money/perso...838025370.html

The Ministry of Finance ratification is likely in few days. Thus the interest is likely to be credited by this month only.

While doing some arranging I found old SBI PPF Passbooks.

Back in 2005, my wife and I had opened the accounts.
Life went on and this was totally forgotten.

Her passbook was last updated in 2006 and mine in 2012.

I took the passbooks back to the issuing bank branch and asked for advice.
Since 15 years had passed since the accounts were created, the only option was to close the accounts.
I got a Banker Cheque within 30 mins for my account.
For my wife's account I needed to get a letter from her authorizing the collection of the Bankers Cheque.

The money continued to earn interest while it was dormant. :)

I managed to renew mine once, for a duration of 5 years. Need to check if those 5 years are up and then renew again, unless the staff feels lazy. AFAIK there is no upper limit on the number of times you can renew the passbook.

Some of my colleagues were forced to close their account after 15 yrs as the staff in their SBI branch said there was no provision to renew the passbooks!

I need to withdraw my PF funds. But since my Aadhar and PAN name mismatched. if I try to withdraw I can't get complete amount and 30% will be paid towards tax.

How do I circumvent this problem and get full withdrawl? Tried couple of aadhar centres and they said changing name in Aadhar right now is not possible. I'm stuck!

This name drama is a PITA for PF services. Slight variation in middle name and you can’t alter anything. I am stuck while trying to transfer my pf from previous organisation to current one because of this. And the so called customer care seems to be just namesake :Frustrati

Finally, Finance Ministry gives node for 8.5% interest rate. We can expect the interest to be credited in next few days.

Reference: https://indianexpress.com/article/bu...-rate-7125441/

What about the interest on interest? Does anyone know if that’s accounted for as well? They are already 9 months late in crediting the gains for last financial year. Can this essentially mean that subscribers will have to bear the loss if PF authority credits the interest based on FY20 balances only.

In my opinion, the effective date of interest credit will still be 31-Mar-20. Therefore, when interest is calculated next year, we don't lose interest on interest.

No it will not be 31-Mar-2020. Effective date will be date of credit which will in all likelihood be in 2-3 weeks from now. Check your preview year statement and you will see the same (I got it in Oct 2019).

I have been complaining about this since long (even raised a grievance but it was closed without action with a standard reply) but seems like we will have to live with it. Once can raise an RTI, if one has the time and energy to do so. We are loosing big money due to this delay.

But this happens only in case of EPFO managed account. One of my preview company had a trust managed account in place and they used to apply interest from 1st April onward (retrospectively).

Mine is also managed by our company trust and interest has been credited for us already. They have applied the interest amount retrospectively from April 1st (till November).

Someone who is privy of how PF authority works once told me that - considering the amount of money handled, it is one of the worst managed organisations in India. This was few years back. But if what you are saying is true, then it seems not much has changed and we will continue to bear the brunt of it.

It is true. The Org has improved compared to what it was 15 years back (when I submitted my first transfer application, they just forgot about it for next three years and I had to visit my employer again to re-submit the application in the PF office myself.) but the improvements are also at snail's pace. Today transfers are a lot smoother than earlier but there are still many bottlenecks in their processes. Back in those days there were no online accounts to view your balance and everything was physical. If you loose your chit (yes it was a small chit that I used to get as opposed to a proper passbook or a statement) then only God and Patience will help you.

I am ok with slow progress with high supervision (after all it is our retirement fund that they are managing) but we should not bear losses due to a fault by the Govt. and this department :unhappy

Private trust managed funds do a way better job.

I too have an SBI PPF account I did not deposit anything into for last 5 years. Are you saying this will continue to earn interest? Thats good news. Is the account rendered dormant and inoperable after 5 years or 10?

It continues to earn interest.
The account would be dormant. If you reach them before 15 years from the date of account creation they will revive it. I think there is a penalty that will be imposed but its a very small amount.

If 15 years have elapsed since date of creation, they will close it and give you a bankers cheque.

I analyzed this a little bit on this now. As per my analysis the date of credit of interest does not matter.

I am attaching the pdf of sample interest calculation provided by EPFO. (When you login to EPFO site, there is a link on right top "How is the Interest calculated ?"; this link downloads the same pdf).

how_is_the_interest_calculated.pdf

The concept of the interest calculation is not on the running balance but on a 'dynamic' closing balance (= Opening balance of next FY). Once the interest is credited, the closing balance of the previous year changes and opening balance of current year gets updated retrospectively. So the date of interest credit really doesn't matter.

Please see attached Excel where I have illustrated this.

I tailored the example provided in the pdf to the specific period (2019-20). Also changed interest rate to 8.5%; In the illustration it is 8.65.

EPF_Calculator.xlsx

Of course, the real proof of the pudding is in the eating. So please download a statement today and compare it with a statement after interest credit. The opening balance of 2020-21 should have the interest amount included.