How to transfer your PPF account from Post office to SBI or any other Bank

How to transfer your PPF account from Post office to State Bank of India or any other Bank

PPF is safe bet compared to many other forms of investment. It gives you a good return of 8.4 % compound interest. Many people open a PPF account in nearest post office when they start their job or start earning. Most of the time the decision is taken in hurry. Soon they realize that depositing money in PPF in post office is nightmare. You have to stand in big queues where most of the people pensioner who take longer times. Post office staff is not efficient in handling computers and individual transaction takes longer time. Also post office times are not convenient. Most of the post offices open early at 8:30 in morning but are closed by 3 pm. The only option left is to go on Saturdays when they are open upto 12 noon. This all inconvenience can be avoided by opening the PPF account in State Bank of India or any other bank which is authorized by Govt. Of India or by transferring the PPF account from post office to one of the banks. With banks you can deposit money online also view the statement time to time.

Steps for Transfer 
1. Go to the post office and fill up the form for transfer. You need to mention the bank name, branch and detail address of the bank in this form.
2. Handover your passbook to post office
3. Local post office will send your form and passbook to Head post office or district post office of your area.
4. The account closure happens in Head post office. They will generate a DD and send the DD with your account information to bank branch which you have mentioned in the form
5. Once the bank receives the transfer form with DD, they will call you. You might need to give PAN card, AADHAR Card photocopies in case you are not already a customer of the bank.
6. The bank will open a new PPF account in which the amount mentioned in DD will be added.
7. Once your account is opened you can get online facilities enabled and deposit money or view the statement online. Please note through online facility you can only view the PPF account balance and statement of transaction. You can not withdraw the money.

Risks :
1. This whole process is manual, so tracking transfer is near impossible
2. It is very difficult to track the form. After the account is closed by head office, in your local office you can see the entry of account closed. But post office or bank branch may misplace your form which happened in my case. I had to visit post office and SBI branch multiple times but the account is not yet transferred.
3. Post office staff has more awareness about this transfer process than SBI staff. SBI staff will deny that they have received any notification or mailer with form. General tendency is to avoid work.