Enter your FD details to see maturity amount
Interest breakdown and bank comparison will appear here
Principal
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Interest earned
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Effective yield
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TDS reminder: If your FD interest exceeds ₹40,000 in a year (₹50,000 for senior citizens), the bank will deduct 10% TDS. Submit Form 15G/15H if your total income is below the taxable limit.
Rate sensitivity
How your maturity changes at nearby interest rates.
Green values show what you gain at a higher rate. Red values show what you lose at a lower rate.
Enter your RD details to see maturity amount
Maturity breakdown and bank comparison will appear here
Total deposited
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Interest earned
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Effective yield
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TDS reminder: RD interest is taxable as per your slab. Banks deduct 10% TDS if total interest across all deposits exceeds ₹40,000 in a financial year.
Rate sensitivity
How your maturity changes at nearby interest rates.
Green values show what you gain at a higher rate. Red values show what you lose at a lower rate.
Learn
Everyone talks about equity and mutual funds. But for a large part of India, a bank FD or RD is the only investment they will ever make. That is not ignorance. It is a rational choice when capital preservation matters more than growth, when you cannot afford to lose, or when you simply need to park money for a specific near-term goal.
When you open a Fixed Deposit, you give the bank a lump sum for a fixed period. The bank pays you interest at a predetermined rate, compounded at a set frequency. Most Indian banks compound quarterly by default, meaning your interest is added to the principal every three months and the next quarter earns interest on the larger amount.
The formula is: Maturity = P x (1 + r/n)^(n x t), where P is your principal, r is the annual interest rate as a decimal, n is the number of compounding periods per year (4 for quarterly), and t is the tenure in years. A 7% FD compounded quarterly is not the same as 7% simple interest. The effective annual yield is slightly higher because of quarterly compounding.
In a Recurring Deposit, you do not put in all your money on day one. Each month's installment earns interest only from the date it is deposited. Your first installment earns interest for the full tenure. Your last installment earns interest for just one month.
This is why, for the same amount of money and the same rate, an RD always matures to less than an FD. If you have ₹60,000 to invest today, putting it all in an FD earns more than depositing ₹5,000 per month in an RD for 12 months. The RD wins when you do not have the lump sum, which is most of the time.
Practical use case: An RD is ideal when saving toward a goal from monthly salary. If you get ₹5,000 in your hand every month and want to accumulate for a year-end expense, an RD is simply a disciplined way to avoid spending that ₹5,000.
Yes, but the difference is smaller than most people assume. The gap between quarterly and monthly compounding on a 7% FD is roughly 0.05 to 0.1 percentage points of effective yield. On ₹1 lakh over one year, that is about ₹50 to ₹100 extra. Not nothing, but not life-changing.
What matters far more is the headline rate itself. A bank offering 7.5% quarterly compounding beats one offering 7.25% monthly compounding by a clear margin. Focus on the rate first, compounding frequency second.
FD interest is taxed at your income tax slab rate. If you are in the 30% bracket, a 7% FD becomes a 4.9% post-tax return. After inflation, the real return is close to zero or negative. This is not a reason to avoid FDs for short-term goals, but it is a reason not to lock large amounts in long-term FDs when you are in a high tax bracket.
If your total annual income is below the taxable limit, submit Form 15G to your bank at the start of each financial year. This prevents the bank from deducting TDS on your FD interest. Senior citizens use Form 15H for the same purpose.
Note on tax-saving FDs: 5-year tax-saver FDs qualify for 80C deduction up to ₹1.5 lakh, but the interest earned is still fully taxable. There is a lock-in and no premature withdrawal. Weigh this against ELSS before choosing.
Small Finance Banks like AU Small Finance Bank and Ujjivan regularly offer FD rates 0.5 to 1.5% higher than large scheduled banks. This is real money on large deposits. The reason they pay more is that they are newer, have a smaller depositor base, and need to attract funds competitively.
The DICGC guarantee covers deposits up to ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank, regardless of whether it is a large private bank or a small finance bank. For amounts within this limit, the risk difference is negligible. For amounts above ₹5 lakh, it is worth thinking about whether the extra rate justifies concentrating the deposit in a smaller institution.