FD Interest Rates – What You Need to Know

FD rates in India are not centrally set. Each bank publishes its own grid based on its deposit needs, the RBI repo rate, and competitive pressure. As a rough rule, public-sector banks (SBI, PNB, Bank of Baroda) sit at the lower end of the rate range, large private-sector banks (HDFC, ICICI, Axis, Kotak) sit slightly higher, and small finance banks (AU, Equitas, Ujjivan, Suryoday) often offer 100–150 basis points more for similar tenures because they need to attract deposits faster.

Two safety notes about chasing the highest rate. First, bank FDs are insured by DICGC for up to ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank — splitting large amounts across two or three banks keeps the entire corpus insured. Second, a small finance bank's licence and balance sheet are different from a scheduled commercial bank's; the extra 1.5% comes with extra concentration risk that is real, even if remote.