We regularly find people asking us to tell the best broker which has excellent app and reliable customer support. We have reviewed around 50+ stockbrokers and thus we have concluded that these 3 are the best options to open a demat account in India
Upstox – The best among all options available. Its app is the best for all professional as well as rookie traders. I have given brief summary of upstox below for your pursuance. To read detailed review – Click Here
Brokerage – Rs 0 (zero) for long term trades, Rs 20 or 0.01% intraday trades
Leverage – Highest intraday leverage among all available discount brokers
On the go Tools – Upstox pro the mobile app has been rated as the best trading app on the appstore. It has a customer rating of 4.4 and has detailed buy sell watchlist
Reliable – Upstox is backed by the likes of Mr. Ratan tata whose name is a credible figure of trust in India
To open an account online and avail exciting discount offers upto Rs 28,000 – Click Here
2. Zerodha
This is the broker that i am using personally for the past 6 years and have no problem in backing that it is the best broker available in discount brokerage space that spends on developing financial eco system. I am summarizing the advantages of zerodha here. I have given a detailed review for your pursuance on why you should opt for zerodha here
Brokerage – Rs 0 (zero) for long term trades, Rs 20 or 0.01% which ever is lower intraday trades
Leverage – High intraday leverage among all available discount brokers
Platforms – Zerodha has excellent web and mobile app called as kite which is embedded with excellent on the go features such as – 20 ticks, Trading view, Chart enabled buy/sell
Multilingual Customer Support – It has multilingual customer support and 200+ partner offices through out india
Trust – It is trusted by 10 lakh + traders for daily trades and has been awarded as best retail stock broker
To open a demat account Online in 5 minutes – Click here
Investing in the stock market means buying fractional ownership of a company.
Companies sell their fractional ownership in small units. It is called Share/Stock/Equity.
The very first time when they sell these units, it is called IPO.
Any Indian can apply for these IPO.
And one of the ways to invest in the stock market is by buying IPOs of the company. The IPO market is called the primary market.
However, there is a chance that you won’t get share allocation during IPO.
But, we do have a secondary market where you can buy/sell shares. And in fact, it is more famous. When you hear keywords like Nifty, Sensex, and stock prices of different companies, it is all about the secondary market. Trading of shares/stock happens in the secondary market.
Summary:- You can invest in the Indian market by applying for IPOs or buying stocks of different companies.
Part 2:- Know about the Stock Exchange, Stock Broker, Depository and SEBI.
Now that you understand about IPOs and secondary market. Let us now understand who are the key participants in the stock market.
Exchanges:- NSE and BSE are famous stock exchanges (There are more but you don’t need to worry about them at all. Ignorance is bliss here). Company’s get listed here (IPO process). And after IPO, their shares/stocks trading happens on these exchanges.
Stock Brokers:- Exchanges appoint stock brokers. You need to open one trading account one of the brokers appointed by stock exchanges. Brokers will also help you with opening a D-mat account. (In the later part, I’ll explain the difference between D-MAT and trading accounts).
Depository:- NSDL and CDSL are two depositories in India. The way you deposit your money in Bank – You deposit your shares with depositories. When you open your Demat account, you are given a 16 digit DP id. This DP id is like your bank account number. So, every time you buy share/stocks, your stocks get deposited in your DP id (Demat id).
SEBI:- Consider SEBI as the grandfather in this stock market family. SEBI is the regulatory body. They make rules for the stock market in India. They will also safeguard your interest. You can complain about your broker to SEBI.
Summary:- Knowing these guys will clear your basic doubts about the stock marketing functioning.
Part 3:- What is a DMAT account and Trading account?
DMAT account is the account where you keep your shares. It gets opened with depository NSDL and CDSL. Your stockbroker will help you open one. You can have one or multiple DMAT accounts. It is identified as a unique 16 digit unique DP id.
The trading account is the account you open with a stockbroker to buy and sell shares/stocks. This is the first stepping stone towards your investment journey in the stock market. Again, you can have one or multiple trading accounts with one or many stockbrokers.
Summary:- You got two choices to open DMAT (either with CDSL or NSDL) account but 100+ options to select stock broker in India.
Part 4:- How to select the correct stockbroker in India?
It is important that you become wise than you get a straight answer from me here. So, instead of giving three-four names and favoring a few brokers, I would like to explain to you what are the factors you should consider before freezing one stockbroker for yourself.
Safety and security:- In financial services and banking business or anything related to money “safety” and “security” should be the first in the rank. So, one stockbroker must be trustworthy and ethical.
Costing:- Every time you buy or sell shares, the broker will apply a brokerage fee. Make sure your broker is not charging you a hefty brokerage fee. Anything between 0.10% to 0.20% is fine these days. Generally, brokers quote high brokerage to first-time investors but if you negotiate, they will reduce the brokerage for you.
Trading platform:- Ease of doing things is also critical. Fund transfer, buy-sell activity, different reports are few of the actions, you would be taking on the broker electronic platform. It is important that you take a good demo of their platform and website.
Client support:- For any company, providing support to the client is a cost to the company. But, one company must focus on this. You need to check if the client support process and client support teams of your stockbroker is friendly
Summary:- I have done my research and so i would recommend these 2 brokers to you
Zerodha – India’s leading discount brokerage and best broker. I have given a detailed overview why you should choose zerodha. Without stock broker you cannot start investing in stocks. Detailed review of Zerodha – Why Zerodha
Upstox – It is 2nd biggest discount brokerage in Indian Industry. And if you don’t like Zerodha than i would recommend this to you. Detailed review of Upstox – Click here
Part 5:- How much I should invest in the Stock market?
Now that you know the operational part and ready to invest in the Indian Stock Market, you will have one question how much to invest in it.
There are two approaches to it.
Approach 1:- Regular investing
Let’s say, you earn 100 Rs per month. But, you are able to save only 40 Rs.
If you are under the age of 35 yrs:-
You can invest up to a maximum of 20 Rs out of the saving of 40 Rs. Which is 50% of your savings. This is the maximum which I would like to advise. The minimum could be as low as 10% of your savings.
Between 35 Yrs to 50 years:-
You can invest up to a maximum of 13.5 Rs out of the saving of 40 Rs. Which is 35% of your monthly savings. This is the maximum which I would like to advise. The minimum could be as low as 10% of your savings.
Above 50 years:-
Anything between 10% to 20% of your monthly savings you can invest in the stock market.
Approach 2:- Lumpsum approach – net worth wise.
Your total net worth is the sum of all your investments – All your debt.
(FDs, PF, PPF, Real estate, Gold, Stocks, Bonds, savings) – total debt = Your net worth
So, calculate your total net worth and you can allocate up to a maximum of 30% in shares/stock. The minimum could be as low as 5%.
Summary:- It is you who knows you the best. Understand one thing that Stocks/shares are an investment in businesses. And businesses do fail. And, you may lose your money. So, define the risk properly before investing in the stock market and invest confidently in the long term. Invest only that much which you would not need in the near term. Invest to build wealth and not to make money.
Part 6:- When is the right time to invest in the stock market?
Well, I got a very simple answer to this. If you have made up your mind to invest, then today is the right time to invest.
Many people try to time the market. And, it is the most dangerous thing. If you are trying to do so, you are trying to forecast too many things. And it is not possible.
Even if you are a pro-investor. Don’t try to time the market.
Invest today and invest regularly. Invest when the market is on top, invest when the market is down and also invest when the market is neutral. Make a discipline on time interval. Once in a month or once in a quarter and stick to it.
Summary:- No one can answer this question with a specific timeline. So better to develop a discipline than to keep looking for the right time.
Part 7:- Where to invest? Which are the companies you should invest in?
Identifying good companies to invest can be a simple and complicated process. And, it will depend completely on the objectivity of your task.
When is it simple?
– If you are looking for safe investments with moderate returns, it can be simple to identify companies. Look for the list of Nifty 50 or Sensex 30 shares.
Nifty50 is a list of top companies in India from 13–14 different sectors. If you visit the NSE website, you can find this list. Look for companies which are not posting loses or having troubles in recent time. Select seven to eight different sectors which you also understand. Select one or two companies from each sector and start building your portfolio in a disciplined manner. There is a very high chance, you will get good returns.
When is it complicated?
-If you are looking to invest in companies at their early stage. At this stage, companies are trying to grow at a fast pace. They take the risk as well. And, if their growth plan works they give high returns to their investors.
For this, you have to develop an understanding of at least 3–4 sectors which will grow faster than the economy. Learn about the market size of the product. Competition and many more factors which impact the company’s performance in that sector. Learn about valuation in detail.
Few points are common to be it whatever approach you take.
a) Don’t invest in unethical companies. If you don’t find promoters and management of the companies ethical and honest, ignore them. Even when the company’s business will grow, they may siphon out the profits.
b) Don’t invest in loss companies. It doesn’t matter how discounted their share prices are looking now. A share which has come down to 50 Rs from 100 Rs, it may go down to 10 Rs as well.
c) Don’t invest based on tips and insider information. Most of the time this kind of news is propagated to offload shares of scammers.
d) Penny stocks – 2Rs, 4Rs, 10 Rs share price type of shares. Stay away from it.
Summary:- Make a rule of investing. This will safeguard you. Keep it simple. Invest in companies where you have worked, companies which products you use, companies which you think are making a difference in people’s life, companies which are contributing to the country’s economy.
The other thing every intraday trader wants is higher leverage or margin. Zerodha Provides upto 27.8 X times of your money for intraday trade on commission free basis
To trade for Rs 1,00,000 intraday you require Rs 3600 in your account
Web based Tools (with charting facilities)
In this fast moving world Everybody wants to day intraday while sitting in their offices or On the go in traffic. Zerodha has excellent web based tools by which you can trade anywhere on the go using google chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera Mini or internet explorer. There is android and ios app available as well
Support is the backbone of any business. Zerodha provides call and trade facilities if you don’t have access to internet and quick support response to your queries both via call and mail
Yes of course it is reliable. All the shares you purchase are saved with Depositiories (NSDL and CDSL). If you don’t like service you can migrate to any broker hassle free.
Yet , FYI (For your information) Zerodha has Credibility of having run the business successfully over the last 6 years with 2.5 lakh clients which makes up 5% of intraday transaction on NSE, BSE and MCX
Interactive learning
Zerodha also have Zerodha varsity a place where beginners can learn how to trade whenever they want and this facility is available free of cost.
Make a Smart Decision opt for Zerodha
if you want to start an account with zerodha you can use the link given below
In today’s trading and investment world, we need a modern broker who can act as a Onestop Shop for all our investment and trading needs.
My recommended broker is Upstox. Here’s Why –
Cost Effective – Upstox is the most cost effective broker in India. In India, there are 2 type of brokers – Traditional and Discount Brokers. Traditional brokers charge the brokerage on per lot basis where as discount brokers charge brokerage on per trade basis. This means that if you purchase 5 lots of an option contract then a traditional broker will charge you brokerage on 5 lots around Rs. 300 where as a traditional broker will charge brokerage on a single trade which will cost you just 20 bucks. So it’s always good to have an account with the discount broker. Upstox brokerage charges are the lowest in India –
Equity Intraday, F&O, Currency and Commodity – Rs. 20/trade
Equity Delivery Trades – FREE
Full Bouquet of Service – Whether you are a trader or an investor, it’s important that your broker is providing all market related service. Upstox covers all products
Equity
Derivatives
Currency
Commodities and
Mutual Funds
Amazing User Interface– Upstox Interface is simply amazing. It provides very handy tools which are actually needed while trading. Below are my favourite features of Upstox UI –
Multi Scrip Select – It enables us to select scrips and it’s f&o contracts in one go using a common search. For Ex – Search “Reliance” and add Reliance Eq, Reliance Fut and CE PE also.
Price Alert on Mobile and Email – You can setup to receive a Mobile and Email alert when your favourite stock comes to your desired level. I do my research in the evening and setup alert using this feature. No need to stare the screen the whole day.
Amibroker Integration – This is real Automated Trading. Upstox has enabled to link your trading account with Amibroker and automate your trading. This feature is available at a nominal price.
Impactful User Interface – Below is a view of how a typical watchlist looks like in Upstox. It contains all the necessary information and smartly gives more info. I like the way they have included a snapshot of line chart for every stock so that you can interprete the movement in a glance.
Customer Care Chat Service – Upstox provides a dedicated customer care executive who can help you to resolve all your queries and issues
Instant account opening – It’s easy to open an Upstox account. Its a completely online process if your can e-verify using Aadhar OTP. To open your Upstox account, you can click here
Do you want to gift your minor child a PPF account. We will be trying to clear any of your queries arising regarding PPF account for Minors
Opening PPF account for Minor
Having said that, PPF account for minor is an effective tool to secure their future. If you have been consistently investing in PPF account of a minor for 15 years, the accumulated amount alone may serve the complete purpose of higher education or marriage of the minor kid when they grow old enough.
Who is eligible to open PPF account for Minor Child?
As per the PPF scheme, any guardian can open a PPF account for minor child. A guardian could be any of the following:
Mother or the father of the minor child
Legal guardian like grandmother, grandfather, uncle, aunt, etc., in cases where any of the parents is not alive
A legal guardian in case the living parents are not capable of acting and operating an account
Documents required for opening PPF account for Minor
While opening a PPF account for minor child, proof of identity and residence of the parents/legal guardian would be required. Along with it, any of the following documents of the minor would be required:
Certificate of Birth of the Minor
School leaving Certificate of Minor, duly stamped by the principal of the school
How much can you invest in a PPF account for Minor?
The maximum limit for PPF limit for all, irrespective of age group is Rs 1.5 lakh, for which the account holder would enjoy the rate of interest and tax benefits. Hence, the maximum you can invest in the account of a minor is Rs 1.5 lakh. At the same time, if you are investing in the PPF account of your minor child, you should be aware that just one guardian/parent can claim the contributions for tax exemptions.
For example, if both the parents have a PPF account and a PPF account for their minor child, parents can claim the investment to their account for tax exemption and either of the parents can claim the contributions for minor’s account for tax exemption.
In all, you can claim only Rs 1.5 lakh for tax exemption whether from your own PPF account or from the account of a minor or both.
Note :- You can deposit only Maximum Deposit Limit per PAN Card. For example current maximum limit is Rs 1.5 Lakhs and you have opened PPF account for yourself and your minor kids then you can deposit a maximum of Rs 1.5 Lakhs in all the accounts in total. Your wife can deposit rs 1.5 Lakhs individually since she has her own PAN card.
What if you invest more than Rs 1.5 lakh to the PPF account of a minor?
This is a tricky situation. A lot of people invest in PPF just to enjoy the tax benefits. It is noteworthy to mention that PPF scheme does not permit an account to be invested more than the specified limit. We have however come across people who have been investing more than the limit amount and no one stopped them ever.
However, if you are caught under the eye of government agencies, you may lose you interests on maturity. So it is always better to not exceed the limit of investment. If you have excess liquid money, you can think about other tax saving investment tools such as life insurance
Do you need to declare your personal PPF account at the time of opening a PPF account for minor child?
Yes, at the time of opening PPF account for your minor child, you, as the guardian/parent of the child need to declare your personal PPF account details. As per the scheme, any individual cannot have more than one PPF account except for the PPF account of a minor child. Hence, it is always better to declare your PPF account at the time of account opening.
Even if you are opening a PPF account for your second child and you and your first child already have a PPF account, you should mention both the accounts at the time of account opening. The idea is, declare all the PPF accounts you are contributing towards at the time of a new account opening.
What are the possible conditions if the Minor PPF account holder becomes a Major?
There could be two possible situations here. A PPF account matures in 15 years.
Case 1 – If the account matures before the child turns 18 years of age: If the PPF account matures before the child turns 18 years of age, the parents have two options. First option is to extend the investment for another 5 years term.
The second option is to withdraw the money from PPF account. If the guardian withdraws this money before the child turns a major, this money would belong to the guardian and would be treated as guardian’s money. If the guardian reinvests this money anywhere, it would be treated as guardian’s investment and the guardian would be taxed accordingly and this will have nothing to do with the child.
Case 2 – When the minor child attains an age of 18 years at the time of maturity: In this case, the money would belong to the child (account holder), since he has become an adult now and is considered fit to manage the account. In this case, the money would be used by the child (account holder) and can be withdrawn or reinvested.
Public provident funds can be opened Online or Via Bank Branch or Post office. At the end you can find a Blog link which has explained exact process of opening a PPF account online with screenshots.
But before opening the PPF account you may also like to know the Benefits, Features and Interest calculation of Public provident funds.
What are major benefits OF PPF
Well, you would be shocked to know that PPF is highest paying investment in zero risk investment category.
PPF has EEE advantage (Exempt, Exempt and Exempt)
E: Contribution or Deposits are non-taxable U/s 80 C of The Income Tax Act.
E: Interest accrued is Tax free.
E: Maturity/Withdrawal amount is non-taxable.
PPF is mentioned under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. In terms of income tax implications, PPF accounts also qualify for EEE (exempt, exempt, exempt) tax category, which means you are not liable to pay tax at all three levels – investment, earning and withdrawal.
Instant loans can be availed from all the major leading banks with your PPF investment. PPF allows this benefits from 3rd financial year of your investment.
If you are in need of urgent money, you are allowed to do partial withdrawal from your PPF investment. This benefit starts from the 7th financial year of your investment.
You can continue your PPF investment even after the maturity date. Additional contribution is also allowed after the maturity. Read more
Interest calculation of PPF investment.
Minimum amount maintained in the PPF account (From 5th day of a Month till end of the month) is considered as principal amount on which credit interest is calculated.
With the below example let’s see how Interest calculation changes if you deposit amount on or before 5th day of a month and after 5th day of a month
Let’s say your Account balance on 1st June is Rs.10000.
You deposit Rs.5000 to your PPF account on 5th June. The interest for the month of June will be calculated on total amount of Rs.15000 (balance as on 5th October).
You deposit Rs.5000 after 5th October, say on 6th June, the interest for June will be calculated on Rs.10000 which is the balance on 5th October EOD. The additional Rs.5000 shall be considered for interest calculation in the next month i.e. July.
Hence, it will be beneficial if you deposit amount in your PPF account on or before 5th day of a month to get extra accrued interest.
Best and instant way to open PPF account online:
I have created my new online PPF account literary within 5 minutes. HDFC and AXIS bank is providing instant PPF account creation service.
And i preferred HDFC bank, so let’s see the steps in opening PPF account.
Step 1.
First Login into your HDFC net banking and browse to your left then click on “Offers” tab.
Step 2.
Second select the offer names as “Experience the convenient way to Save Tax!” and fill you details. You should note that Minimum amount for initial payin is RS. 500 and Maximum is RS. 150000.
Step 3.
Click on the “Submit” button and you will receive the successful message and in case you already have an existing account you will see the below message.
Furthermore, If AADHAAR is linked to bank account already, PPF account opening form will be submitted, and you will receive a message that your account will be opened in one working day. Online Public provident fund account opening is allowed only for customers having Linked AADHAAR card to the Bank account.
Is PPF investment worth it?
YES, PPF is a life saver especially for employees newly crossing Taxable income slab (RS. 250000 per annum). Further it is an efficient tax saving instrument to enjoy tax free returns and to build a good corpus at maturity with no risk
This post tries to answer any query which you have regarding loan on Public Provident fund
When Can I apply For a PPF Loan?
A PPF subscriber is allowed to take a loan from the third financial year. And this loan facility against the PPF account is available only till the end of the sixth financial year. For example, if a PPF account was opened in 2017-18, the first loan can be taken only from 2019-20. A PPF subscriber cannot take a new loan until the old loan has been paid off.
How much amount can I get as Quantum of Loan?
But the loan amount cannot exceed 25% of the balance available in the PPF account at the close of two years immediately preceding the year in which the loan is being applied for. For example, if a PPF account has a closing balance of Rs 2,00,000 in 2017-18, The maximum loan quantum can be Rs 50,000 only
How many times can loan facility be availed in a year?
A loan can be taken only once in a year even though the loan taken in the year is repaid in the same year.
What are the documents that are to be submitted for loan and what will be the Interest charged?
A PPF subscriber needs to submit Form D for a loan request. Interest is charged at 2% over the PPF interest rate. And the loan taken from the PPF account has to be repaid within 36 months
Which banks Provide Loan against PPF Facilties?
All Scheduled Commercial banks provide Loan against PPF Facilties. To name a few
State Bank Of India
Punjab National Bank
Bank Of Baroda
HDFC Bank
ICICI Bank
What If my tenure of 6 years of PPF have been completed?
You cannot avail loan facility against PPF any more but you can withdraw the corpus as per existing knorms. To know more about redemption read here.
What is the penalty if i fail to repay PPF loan on time ?
If the loan is not repaid within the prescribed period of thirty six months, interest on the amount of loan outstanding shall be charged at six per cent per annum instead of at two per cent per annum.
My Bank asks me to get personal loan Instead of PPF loan What should I Do?
Most of the bank offer PPF loan always try and get PPF loan as the interest charged against PPF loan is 2-3% less than the Personal loan
Public Provident Fund (PPF) scheme is a long term investment scheme backed by the Government of India, framed under the Public Provident Fund Act, 1968. It offers safety with attractive interest rate and returns that are fully exempted from Tax.
Who can open account under PPF scheme?
a. Individual or individual as guardian of a minor can open the account. (account cannot be opened in Joint names).
b. Only one account can be opened by an individual in his/her own name.
What is the Limit of Subscription to a PPF account?
Minimum subscription of Rs.500/- and maximum of Rs.1, 50,000/- can be made in lumpsum or in 12 installments per financial year.
(The subscription limits stands enhanced to Rs. 1,50, 000/ per year w.e.f. 23.08.2014)
When does a PPF account mature and can PPF account continue with deposits after maturity?
The duration of the account is 15 years and the account can be continued for one or more blocks of 5 years without loss of interest on written request within 1 year from the date of maturity.
When is an account treated as Discontinued?
Where subscribers fail to subscribe the minimum amount Rs 500/- in a financial year, the account will be treated as discontinued. The subscriber in such cases will not be entitled to obtain a loan or make a partial withdrawal unless the account is revived. The subscriber cannot open another PPF account in addition to the discontinued one.
How can a Discontinued Account be revived?
A subscriber to a discontinued account may revive the discontinued account by payment of Rs. 50/- as penalty for each year of default along with arrears subscription of Rs. 500/- for each year.
What is the Rate of Interest under PPF ?
Interest rate is notified by the Central Government in official gazette from time to time. Currently it is 8.0% per annum.
Is nomination facility available under the scheme ?
Yes, the PPF scheme facilitates nominations of one or more persons. However, no nomination(s) is possible in case of minor account.
Can there be a change in nominations ?
Yes, changes to previous nomination(s) are possible by applying a fresh nomination(s).
Can a PPF account be transferred ?
Yes, the account is transferable to and from permitted branches of nationalized or private sector banks or Post Offices by submitting a request letter by the PPF A/c Holder to the existing Accounts Office.
Whether Loan facility or partial withdrawal is available under the PPF scheme ?
Yes, the depositor is eligible for a loan in the third financial year from the financial year in which the account was opened. Loan up to 25% of the balance amount standing at the credit of the account at the end of first financial year can be availed. Loan is repayable in 36 months. The rate of interest on the loan shall be at 2% per annum above the PPF interest rate.
The repayment of loan may be made either in one lump sum or in two or more monthly installments within the prescribed period of thirty six months. The repayment is credited to the subscriber’s account. After the principal of the loan is fully repaid, the subscriber shall pay interest thereon in not more than two monthly installments
If the loan is not repaid within the prescribed period of thirty six months, interest on the amount of loan outstanding shall be charged at six per cent per annum instead of at two per cent per annum. Withdrawal is allowed every year from the end of the 5th year.
The amount is limited to 50% of the account balance at the end of 4th year immediately preceding the year of withdrawal or at the end of the preceding year whichever is lower less the amount of loan if any drawn by him which is unpaid. If any account is continued after maturity, a partial withdrawal up to 60% of the balance of credit at the commencement of the extended period is permitted during the 5 years block period.
Can a PPF account continue with Deposits after maturity?
Yes, a subscriber may, after maturity of the PPF account, continue the account for one or more blocks of 5 years without loss of interest on written request within 1 year from the date of maturity.
Can a PPF account continue without deposits after maturity?
Yes, PPF account can be continued after maturity without making any further deposits. The balance will continue to earn interest at the notified rates. The subscriber can make one withdrawal of any amount in each financial year.
Can name of the account be changed on account of marriage of a female subscriber?
Yes, In the event of her marriage, a female subscriber may request for change in name of the account by submitting documentary evidence for the same.
How is the repayment of balance in the PPF account done after the death of the subscriber?
Upon death of the subscriber, repayment of the balance in the PPF account will be made to the Nominee or to the Legal heirs after submission of necessary documents.
Does the PPF account earn interest after the death of the subscriber?
Yes, the PPF account continues to earn interest at the notified rate even after the death of the subscriber.
Whether premature closure of the PPF account is allowed?
Not allowed except in case of death of the subscriber.
In what banks can I open the PPF account?
Public Provident Fund or PPF account can be opened at any of the nationalized banks like SBI, BoB etc and also at private sector banks like ICICI, Kotak etc.
U can also open PPF account at Post Offices also, But I would suggest you to stick to either nationalized banks or Private banks. Private Banks is much better because you would have that account as a salary account, which can also be used for investments like PPF, Insurance, Mutual funds investing through SIP, Trading account with Demat account, Gold investments and locker facility.
In that way, you can have only one account which can provide all services and also, since you are using all services you get extra facilities and discounts for many sites, shopping, travel etc. It becomes easier to keep a track of your earnings and expenses, so that you can plan your financial budgets better.
What are the income tax benefits available under PPF scheme?
Tax benefits under section 80C of Income Tax Act are available. Interest income is also totally exempt from income tax. Amount outstanding to the credit of PPF account is fully exempt from wealth tax. You will have to provide all the proof of 80C investments to your auditor at the time of filing your income tax returns.
If you are a salaried employee, your company has taken the proof of PPF and other income tax savings schemes to give you tax exemption in the current financial year. Your company is going to submit the same to income tax stating that you have shown PPF as proof of 80C investments. Hence it should be backed up with proof when filing returns also