Even though the stock market is currently facing bearish phase, investors are now looking for ways that can give them fixed returns with minimum worries. One of the main fixed-return instruments is fixed deposits (FDs). Banks are currently offering FD interest rates of up to 8.1 per cent to the general public, comfortably beating overall inflation.
According to Bankbazaar.com, among all banks, RBL Bank currently offers the highest FD rates in the range of 3.5 percent-8.1 percent per annum to general public and 4 percent-8.6 percent to senior citizens.
Here is a comparison of FD interest rates among four lenders: State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB), and ICICI Bank.
Among these four banks, private sector lender HDFC Bank offers the highest FD rate – up to 7.4 percent – to the general public. ICICI Bank and Punjab National Bank offer up to 7.25 percent each, while State Bank of India offers up to 7 percent.
The applicable interest rates depend on the age of the depositor and the tenure of the deposit.
In case of senior citizens, HDFC Bank offers the highest rate of 7.90 percent. However, ICICI Bank, PNB, SBI are offering 7.80 percent, 7.75 percent and 7.50 percent respectively.
FD rates are applicable for deposits below 3 crores.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked the banks to make concerted efforts to get deposits by conducting a special drive. She also advised banks to have better relationships with their customers for efficient customer service delivery.
While credit growth has picked up, deposit mobilization can be further improved to sustain credit growth and asked banks to make concerted efforts to attract deposits by undertaking special drives, she said.
According to the latest data, India’s retail inflation stood at 6.21 percent.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is scheduled to hold its Monetary Policy Committee meeting next month, in which it is expected to keep the key repo rate unchanged.