In order to prevent the increasing online fraud and to protect the account holders, the Central Government has made it mandatory for the Public Provident Fund (PPF) account holders to link Aadhaar with the account.
The Finance Ministry had also issued a circular in this regard on March 31, 2023. In such a situation, account holders can know how to link Aadhaar and its process here. Apart from this, in case of not linking Aadhaar, they may have to face a lot of trouble.
Public Provident Fund (PPF) investment scheme is one of the most popular government schemes for giving high interest. A maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh can be deposited annually in this scheme with an investment limit of 15 years. Interest rate at the rate of 7.1 per cent is applicable on this amount. In this way, Rs 1.5 is deposited every year for 15 years, on which the annual interest rate is Rs 10,650.
It is mandatory to link PPF account holders with Aadhaar
The Finance Ministry has made it mandatory for all types of small savings schemes and post office scheme investors to link Aadhaar. According to the ministry, if the PPF investor has opened the account before March 31, 2023 and has not submitted his Aadhaar number to the accounts office, he shall submit the Aadhaar within a period of six months with effect from April 1, 2023. The period of six months will end on 30 September 2023. Investors can also submit PAN along with Aadhaar.
What if PPF account is not linked with Aadhaar?
According to the instructions of the Ministry of Finance, if the Aadhaar number is not submitted to the post office where the PPF account is opened and the PPF account is not linked, then the account will be frozen. In such a situation, the investor may have to face many problems like-
- The amount of interest payable will not be credited to the PPF account holder’s account.
- Investor will not be able to deposit money in his PPF accounts.
- The maturity amount will not be transferred to the bank account specified by the investor.
