Fixed deposits, savings accounts, SCSS, and RD — we track rates daily so you always know where to park your money for the best returns.
103 guides
Open a joint savings account and the bank will ask you to pick an operating mandate most people breeze past — 'Either or Survivor' or 'Former or Survivor'. The choice decides who can withdraw money on their own signature while both holders are alive, and it has nothing to do with who eventually inherits the balance.
On October 7, 2026, the RBI raised the repo rate for the first time in nearly four years — 25 basis points to 5.50% — and shifted its stance to 'calibrated tightening,' taking further cuts off the table for now. After two years of falling FD rates, the direction has just reversed.
A fixed deposit does two jobs that have nothing to do with its interest rate: it can replace the collateral a bank wants before sanctioning a study-abroad loan, and it can double as a visa officer's proof of funds. Each has its own rules — an FD that clears your bank's loan desk can still get rejected by a foreign consulate.
RBI has now held the repo rate at 5.25% for five straight meetings, with a neutral stance and inflation projected to climb through FY27. That combination changes the tenure question for anyone about to book a new FD — not whether to wait, but how long to lock in for.
After two years of repo rate cuts, the big four banks now sit within a 0.25% band on regular FDs. Here is exactly where each one stands by tenure, which special-tenure deposit each bank uses to look better than it is, and who's still paying more outside the big four.
A Public Provident Fund account isn't locked to the branch where you opened it — it can move from a post office to a bank, bank to bank, or even post office to post office, and the 15-year maturity clock keeps running from the original opening date. Here's the actual transfer process, the documents your current branch has to forward, and why it still isn't a same-day process anywhere.
Banks let you open a PPF account online in minutes through net banking — post offices still don't, despite running much of India's digital banking push elsewhere. Here's exactly how SBI and HDFC Bank do it, what you need ready before you start, and why a post office PPF account still means a physical visit.
A rule notified in April 2025 lets PPF holders name up to four nominees and update them for free, yet most accounts still have none registered. Here is exactly how the nomination process works, how the payout splits across multiple nominees, and what changes when a nominee is a minor.
A parent can open a PPF account for a child of any age — but the ₹1.5 lakh annual limit isn't a fresh allowance for the child. It's shared with the guardian's own PPF account, and depositing beyond it in either account earns zero interest on the excess.
Open a joint savings account and the bank will ask you to pick an operating mandate most people breeze past — 'Either or Survivor' or 'Former or Survivor'. The choice decides who can withdraw money on their own signature while both holders are alive, and it has nothing to do with who eventually inherits the balance.
A resident Indian can open a dollar deposit at an IFSC Banking Unit in GIFT City, funded through the same Liberalised Remittance Scheme used to buy US stocks — and rates often beat FCNR. What most pitches skip: unlike an NRI's FCNR account, a resident's interest here is fully taxable in India.
Break a bank RD early and you typically lose 0.5%-1% off a rate that's already been recalculated for the shorter period you actually held it. Break a Post Office RD before 3 years and you can't — the account simply won't close. Here's exactly how each route works, and when a loan against the RD beats either.
Your old salary account doesn't close when you resign. It quietly turns into a regular savings account, often with a ₹10,000 minimum balance and the charges that come with it. Here is when the switch happens, what you lose, and your four options.
Open a Senior Citizen Savings Scheme account with your spouse as joint holder, and two questions trip up almost every applicant: does the second holder also need to be 60, and whose ₹30 lakh limit does the deposit count against? The post office form doesn't explain either — but the answers decide how much a retired couple can actually park in SCSS, and what happens to the account if one of them dies first.
SCSS pays the highest rate but only every quarter. POMIS is the only scheme built to pay monthly, capped at ₹9 lakh. A senior citizen bank FD's real monthly-payout rate runs quieter than its advertised number. Here's what each actually pays — and how retirees combine them.
A Senior Citizens' Savings Scheme account locks in a strong rate for five years, but life doesn't always cooperate with a five-year plan. Here's exactly when you can close an SCSS account early, what it costs at each stage, and the one situation where the penalty disappears completely.
A Senior Citizens' Savings Scheme account doesn't have to end at 5 years — it can be extended in 3-year blocks, any number of times, at whatever rate is current on the day you extend. Here's the exact extension window, the interest rate catch, and what happens if the money needs to come out early.
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