ICICI Bank customers can now open PPF-account sitting at home

ICICI Bank stated that it has worked closely with the Finance Ministry for offering the "completely online preposition" to its customers for opening a PPF account.

It is the first bank in India to introduce such a fully digital and paperless procedure for PPF accounts.

However, banks, including State Bank of India and ICICI, have been offering PPF facilities apart from post offices.

ICICI customers can login to their banking account through the Internet or mobile banking service.

Under "My Accounts", customers need to choose "Open PPF Account", and confirm auto-generated details like PAN, address, etc.

After entering the deposit amount, users can also choose to add money to PPF account from their ICICI account directly.

PPF account will be created after submitting and confirming Aadhaar number.

Once the customer submits all the required details online, the PPF account will be created instantly, within seconds. Also, the PPF account number will be immediately displayed on the screen.

ICICI would let customers get an annual statement of the PPF accounts on its Internet and mobile banking platforms.

Users can also transfer funds to PPF account from the linked savings account.

Public Provident Fund (PPF) is a savings-cum-tax-saving instrument introduced by Finance Ministry's National Savings Institute in 1968.

Under the popular small savings scheme, people can invest an amount as low as Rs. 500 (minimum) and up to Rs. 1.5lakh (maximum) in a financial year.

The scheme's duration is 15 years. Annual deposits in PPF accounts can be made in up to 12 installments.

The PPF savings scheme currently offers an interest rate of 7.8%; it is exempted from Income Tax under Section 80C.

Subscribers can avail loans between 3rd and 6th years and partial withdrawal facilities after 7th year.

After the completion of 15 years (after maturity), the investors can extend the duration of their PPF account for five years or more.