Coronavirus COVID-19: Centre extends deadline till June 30 to deposit money in Public Provident Fund, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana

In a major relief for Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) investors, the Union Finance Ministry on Saturday issued a notification extending the deadline to make deposits in these schemes for the financial year 2019-20 (FY20) till June 30, 2020. The decision, which is going to benefit crores of account holders, has been taken in the wake of the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

However, customers will be allowed to deposit only till the upper limit, which is Rs 1.5 lakh a year, in the Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.

It is to be noted that generally, a PPF or Sukanya Yojna account holder needs to ensure minimum deposit from 1st April to March 31st in a financial year. But, due to the nationwide lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 24 to curb the spread of coronavirus, several depositors were facing the penalty charges due to non-deposit of minimum amount in the respective schemes and this is the reason why the Centre has decided to extend the last date for submission of minimum deposit in these small savings schemes.

A PPF account holder needs to deposit at least Rs 500 in its PPF account in a financial year failing to which the account holder has to pay a penalty of Rs 50. For Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana account, the minimum deposit amount is Rs 250. 

Earlier, the Finance Ministry had announced that those who are investing in these small saving schemes, can show these investments up to June 2020 in their Income Tax Return (ITR) for FY 2019-20.