The interest accumulated on public provident fund (PPF) deposits has been falling over the last few years. Since 2016, it has fallen from 8.7 per cent to currently 7.1 per cent. In April this year, the interest rate on this highly-favoured saving and investment instrument was cut sharply by 80 basis points from 7.9 per cent to 7.1 per cent. And with consistent decline in government bond yields, to which the interest rates of small savings schemes including PPF are linked, one cannot rule out further cuts in the future with PPF interest rate declining even below 7 per cent, which hasn’t happened since 1974.