Seven must - know facts about PPF accounts

The key to wealth creation lies in the practice of saving regularly and systematically. The public provident fund (PPF) is one such long-term investment option that would suit investors of all types. Scoring high on safety, by virtue of it being government backed, this wonderful option comes with tax benefits, loan options and a low maintenance cost. Investment Yogi explains seven must-know facts of a PPF account to make it more profitable for you.

It requires just Rss. 100 to start a PPF account: PPF accounts could be opened by individuals, whether salaried or self-employed, with a minimum initial deposit of just Rs. 100. Accounts could be opened at any branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) or branches of its associated banks. Other nationalized banks which offer this service are Bank of India, Central Bank of India and Bank of Baroda. The general post office too allows opening of a PPF account. Individuals may also open a PPF account on behalf of a minor child of whom they are the guardian.

PPF accounts have a minimum and maximum deposit limit: A minimum deposit of Rs. 500 must be made during one whole financial year. The maximum that could be deposited is Rs. 1,00,000 in a financial year. Deposits could be in either one go, or in flexible installments (in multiples of Rs.10). You could vary the amount and the number of installments, as per your convenience, provided you do not exceed 12 installments in one financial year. Failing to deposit the minimum requirement would lead to your account being discontinued. Interest would, however, continue to accrue. You could regularize the account again on paying the prescribed default fee along with subscription arrears.

Interest calculation in PPF account: The interest rate in your PPF account is calculated on the lowest balance between the fifth and the last day of the month. So to maximize your earnings, try making deposits between the 1st and the 5th of the month. Interest is compounded annually and credited on March 31 each year.

Premature withdrawal from PPF: The entire amount in your account could be withdrawn only on maturity. However, in times of financial crises partial withdrawals are permitted subject to certain ceiling limits. You could withdraw once a year, from the 7th year on wards  Such withdrawals must not exceed 50 per cent of the balance at the end of the fourth year, or 50 per cent of the balance at the end of the immediate preceding year, whichever is lower. Premature closure of a PPF account is permissible only in case of death.

PPF offers multiple tax benefits: Deposits in a PPF account qualify for a deduction under section 80C. Furthermore, the entire maturity amount including the interest is non-taxable. Not only is the interest earned tax free, PPF deposits are exempt from wealth tax too.

Need a loan- Use your PPF: You could take a loan on your PPF deposit, subject to certain terms and conditions. Loans could be taken from the third year onwards till the sixth year. Up to a maximum of 25 per cent of the balance at the end of the 2nd immediately preceding year would be allowed as loan. Such withdrawals are to be repaid within 24 months. Rate of interest charged on the loan would be 2 per cent more than the PPF interest rate prevailing then.

A second loan could be availed as long as you are within the 3rd and the 6th year, and only if the first one is fully repaid. Also note that once you become eligible for withdrawals, no loans would be permitted. Inactive accounts or discontinued accounts are not eligible for loan.

Continuing PPF after the 15-year period: PPF account holders have an option of extending their accounts after the 15 year tenure with or without further subscription, for any period in a block of five years. The balance in the account will continue to earn interest at normal rate as admissible on PPF account till the account is closed. In case the account is extended without contribution, any amount can be withdrawn without restrictions. However, only one withdrawal is allowed per year.

If you continue the account after 15 years, with continued deposit, withdrawal up to 60 per cent of the balance at the beginning of each extended period (block of five years) is permitted.

Info taken from PPF Details

Impoverishment

Taken @ Hardwar - 2012

“Hungry for love, He looks at you. Thirsty for kindness, He begs of you. Naked for loyalty, He hopes in you. Homeless for shelter in your heart, He asks of you. Will you be that one to Him?” ― Mother Teresa

Overview of Pharma Industry

Following is the presentation which I prepared on Pharma Industry. The PPT covers following topics :

1. Introduction to Healthcare & different Products
2. Role of Pharmaceutical in Healthcare
3. Drug Details 
4. What a drug is made of ?
5. Classification of drugs
6. Product Life Cycle of a Drug
7. Drug Development Phases
8. Regulatory Framework & various Regulatory Bodies

I am sharing the link here. I would be glad if it assists someone in understanding the Domain.

Access the link @- Overview of Pharma Industry

No one - except Me!

Taken @ Banaras - 2011

"I am smiling at myself today

There's no wish left in this heart
Or perhaps there is no heart left

Free from all desire

I sit quietly like Earth

My silent cry echoes like thunder

Throughout the universe

I am not worried about it

I know it will be heard by no one - except me." - Rumi

Confusion - The Unintentional Crap

I wonder if I have changed over night. I wonder if I changed during the last week. Let me think! Was I same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I am not the same. I really am not the same. What impact does it have when one is in a company of a great teacher or a friend or an intellectual person - whose knowledge is as vast as ocean whose company one enjoys to the fullest. I wish I could listen and be with such a animate soul forever.  And when one comes in contact with such a person (no matter who it is) one always tends to establish a relationship.I pondered as I was gazing the night sky alone this Saturday night - what relationships mean, how does one define them! I read one of the talks given by Jiddu Krishnamurti on Relationships and seems like I got my answers to some extent. (Sharing the content here).

Relationship - What does it mean to you? First of all, there is no such thing as being isolated. To be is to be related and without relationship there is no existence. Relationship an interconnected challenge and response between two people- between you and me, the challenge which you throw out and which I accept or to which I respond; also the challenge I throw out to you. The relationship of two people creates society - society is not independent of you and me; the mass is not by itself a separate entity but you and I in our relationship to each other create the mass, the group, the society.

Relationship is the awareness of interconnection between two people. What is that relationship generally based on? Is it not based on so-called interdependence, mutual assistance? At least, we say it is mutual help, mutual aid and so on, but actually, apart from words, apart from the emotional screen which we throw up against each other, what is it based upon? On mutual gratification! If I do not please you, you get rid of me, if I please you, you accept me either as your wife or as your neighbour or as your friend. That is the fact. 

What is it that you call the family? Obviously it is a relationship of intimacy, of communion. In your family, in your relationship with your wife, with your husband, is there communion? Surely that is what we mean by relationship, do we not? Relationship means communion without fear, freedom to understand each other, to communicate directly. Obviously relationship means that - to be in communion with another. Are you? Are you in communion with your wife? Perhaps you are physically but that is not relationship.You and your wife live on opposite sides of a wall of isolation, do you not? You have your own pursuits, your ambitions, and she has hers. You live behind the wall and occasionally look over the top - and that you call relationship. That is a fact, is it not? You may enlarge it, soften it and introduce a new set of words to describe it. But that is the fact - that you and another live in isolation and that life in isolation you call relationship. 

If there is real relationship between two people, which means there is communion between them, then the implications are enormous. Then there is no isolation- there is love and not responsibility or duty. It is the people who are isolated behind their walls who talk about duty and responsibility. A man who loves does not talk about responsibility - he loves. Therefore he shares with another his joy, his sorrow, his money. Are your families such? Is there direct communion with your wife, with your children? Obviously not.

Therefore the family is merely an excuse to continue your name or tradition, to give you what you want, so the family becomes a means of self-perpetuation, of carrying on your name. That is one kind of immortality, one kind of permanency. The family is also used as a means of gratification. I exploit others ruthlessly in the business world, in the political or social world outside and at home I try to be kind and generous. How absurd! Or the world is too much for me, I want peace and I go home. I suffer in the world and I go home and try to find comfort. So I use relationship as a means of gratification which means I do not want to be disturbed by my relationship.

Thus relationship is sought where there is mutual satisfaction, gratification When you do not find that satisfaction you change relationship either you divorce or you remain together but seek gratification elsewhere or else you move from one relationship to another till you find what you seek - which is satisfaction, gratification and a sense of self-protection and comfort. After all, that is our relationship in the world.Relationship is sought where there can be security, where you as an individual can live in a state of security, in a state of gratification, in a state of ignorance - all of which always creates conflict.If you do not satisfy me and I am seeking satisfaction, naturally there must be conflict, because we are both seeking security in each other; when that security becomes uncertain you become jealous, you become violent, you become possessive and so on. So relationship invariably results in possession in condemnation, in self-assertive demands for security, for comfort and in that there is naturally no love. 

We talk about love, we talk about responsibility, duty, but there is really no love- relationship is based on gratification, the effect of which we see in the present civilization. The way we treat our wives, children, neighbours, friends is an indication that in our relationship there is really no love at all. It is merely a mutual search for gratification. As this is so, what then is the purpose of relationship? What is its ultimate significance? If you observe yourself in relationship with others, do you not find that relationship is a process of self-revelation? Does not my contact with you reveal my own state of being if I am aware, if I am alert enough to be conscious of my own reaction in relationship?Relationship is really a process of self-revelation, which is a process of self-knowledge- in that revelation there are many unpleasant things, disquieting, uncomfortable thoughts, activities. Since I do not like what I discover- I run away from a relationship which is not pleasant to a relationship. Therefore, relationship has very little significance when we are merely seeking mutual gratification but becomes extraordinarily significant when it is a means of self-revelation and self-knowledge. 

After all, there is no relationship in love, is there? It is only when you love something and expect a return of your love that there is a relationship. When you love, that is when you give yourself over to something entirely, wholly then there is no relationship. If you do love, if there is such a love, then it is a marvellous thing. In such love there is no friction, there is not the one and the other, there is complete unity. It is a state of integration, a complete being. There are such moments, such rare, happy, joyous moments, when there is complete love, complete communion. What generally happens is that love is not what is important but the other, the object of love becomes important; the one to whom love is given becomes important and not love itself.Then the object of love, for various reasons, either biological, verbal or because of a desire for gratification for comfort and so on, becomes important and love recedes. Then possession, jealousy and demands create conflict and love recedes further and further; the further it recedes, the more the problem of relationship loses its significance, its worth and its meaning.Therefore, love is one of the most difficult things to comprehend. It cannot come through an intellectual urgency, it cannot be manufactured by various methods and means and disciplines. It is a state of being when the activities of the self have ceased but they will not cease if you merely suppress them, shun them or discipline them. You must understand the activities of the self in all the different layers of consciousness. We have moments when we do love, when there is no thought, no motive, but those moments are very rare. Because they are rare we cling to them in memory and thus create a barrier between living reality and the action of our daily existence. 

In order to understand relationship it is important to understand first of all what is, what is actually taking place in our lives, in all the different subtle forms- and also what relationship actually means. Relationship is self-revelation - it is because we do not want to be revealed to ourselves that we hide in comfort and then relationship loses its extraordinary depth, significance and beauty. There can be true relationship only when there is love but love is not the search for gratification. Love exists only when there is self-forgetfulness, when there is complete communion, not between one or two but communion with the highest; and that can only take place when the self is forgotten.

The boat called Life

Taken at Banaras - 2011

"Life is like a boat in the sea. When sea is rough, the only way to keep your boat moving forward is to keep rowing."

Silence

Taken @ Hyd - Dec, 2012

“Silence make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying, but the never needing to say that counts.”  Margaret Lee Runbeck