Editorial Team
3 mins read • 26 Dec 2025
Here are some tips that can help maximise your interest income from Fixed Deposits. Please read the Fixed Deposits Primer and about Fixed Deposit Types to know more about some of the terms used in this article.
Longer Tenor: Banks typically offer higher interest rates for longer tenors. If you look at the deposit rate chart for a bank, you may find, for example, that the interest rate for the tenor slab 18 months to 2 years is higher than that for tenor slab 1 year to less than 18 months. Choose a longer tenor if you can afford to lock-in your money for longer.
Cliff Effects: You can take advantage of cliff effects. For example, instead of opting for a deposit with 18 months tenor, you could add 1 day and book a deposit for 18 months and 1 day which let's you take advantage of the higher interest rate offered for the next tenor slab without materially elongating the lock-in period.
A bank may offer a higher rate for a specific tenor in order to encourage build up of deposits at that tenor. For example, the interest rate offered for a tenor of 91 days may be higher than that offered for 90 days as well as for 92 days. Please consult deposit rate charts offered by banks or use to compare and pick a tenor that allows you to maximise your interest income with the lowest possible lock-in period.
Cumulative Deposits: Unless you have a need for interest income to be transferred to your Savings Account periodically, opt for Cumulative variants of Fixed Deposits that allow you to earn interest on interest and take advantage of the power of compounding.
Senior Citizens, Super Senior Citizens: If you are a Senior Citizen or a Super Senior Citizen, you can avail of interest rates which are 0.50% to 1.00% per annum higher than those offered to the general public. Since these terms can vary, please consult the deposit rate chart and detailed terms and conditions before deciding to invest with a bank.
Interest rates move up and down over time depending on the state of the economy with both Indian and global economic matters playing a role. Strategies like laddering can help in averaging interest rate movements and maximising interest income over time. Central Banks like the Reserve Bank of India and the US Federal Reserve set key policy rates based on which banks keep periodically revising their deposit rate charts. Please visit the section of the website to see the list of recent changes.
Non-Callable Deposits: Banks offer better interest rates on non-callable deposits where pre-mature withdrawal is not allowed. You can consider investing in non-callable deposits only if you are absolutely sure that you will not need the money till the deposit maturity date.
Bulk Deposits: Another option to earn a better return is to invest in Bulk Deposits of Rupees 3 Crore and above where banks may offer higher rates of interest.
Automatic Renewal: Use the Automatic Renewal option so that deposits do not become overdue and you can continue to earn interest at prevailing rates.
Important Note:
Our site lets you compare across banks and tenors the fixed, simple rate of interest per annum offered to the general public (non-Senior Citizen) for domestic deposits less than Rupees 3 Crores where pre-mature withdrawal is allowed.