Best Fixed Deposit Rates in India: 2 November 2026

Source: HDFC Bank's official rate page (applicable from 19 August 2026) and Axis Bank's official rate page (marked applicable for 2 November 2026) — both fetched 2 November 2026. SBI's table is as tabulated by Paisabazaar (updated 1 October 2026, rates effective 15 December 2025), cross-checked against the senior-citizen rate teaser SBI's own website displays (6.90% for 2 years to under 3 years, 7.05% for 5 years and up); ICICI's table is from Paisabazaar (updated 29 October 2026, effective 29 October 2026), matching ICICI Bank's own published headline of 6.60% general and 7.20% senior. SBI's and ICICI's own rate tables did not load cleanly on the fetch date.

What the headline rows hide: SBI pays 6.40% for 2 years to under 3 years and 6.30% for 3 to under 5 years — its five-year rate of 6.05% is actually lower than the 444-day special. HDFC pays 6.45% from 18 months to 2 years and steps down to 6.15% beyond five years. ICICI pays 6.55% from 2 years 1 day to 3 years, and holds 6.60% all the way from 3 years 1 day to 10 years, which makes it the cleanest choice if you want one long booking. Axis's senior range reaches 7.25% on select tenures per its own deposit page. Source: the bank pages and cross-checks cited above, 2 November 2026.

Source: AU Small Finance Bank's official rate page — general rates effective 1 September 2026, senior rates effective 10 June 2026, fetched 2 November 2026; Equitas SFB's official fixed deposit page, fetched 2 November 2026 (888-day FD: 7.75% general, 8.25% resident seniors); Utkarsh SFB's official pages advertise up to 8.10% for general depositors and 8.25% for senior citizens, but its full rate-table PDF would not load, so the exact tenure is not stated here; Unity's 501-day figures are from Economic Times and Business Today reports of its July 2026 hike, cross-checked against Paisabazaar and GoldenPi — no official Unity page could be fetched, so treat these as third-party reported as of July 2026.

The rate gap is real but so is the reason for it: small finance banks fund their loan books with deposits, and they price aggressively to grow. The safety net is the same — these are scheduled commercial banks, and every one of the four above confirms DICGC registration or cover on its own pages. That insurance runs to ₹5,00,000 per depositor per bank, covering principal plus interest combined. Source: DICGC's official Guide to Deposit Insurance (dicgc.org.in), fetched 2 November 2026; Equitas states DICGC cover of up to ₹5 lakh on its FD page and AU's footer confirms registration.

The practical play: a household can hold up to the cap at each bank and get identical protection whether the bank is SBI or a small finance bank. Above the cap, you are an unsecured creditor of the bank — which is why the standard advice is to split large FD portfolios across banks rather than stack ₹20 lakh into whichever bank printed the biggest number this week. Our DICGC explainer covers the aggregation rules, including how joint accounts earn separate cover.

A cumulative FD reinvests the interest and hands you one maturity cheque; a non-cumulative FD pays it out monthly or quarterly. The payout option is indispensable for retirees replacing a salary, but it costs yield — AU's monthly-payout table shows 7.06% for 12-15 months against 7.10% cumulative, and payout rates at other banks are discounted similarly because the bank loses the compounding. Source: AU Small Finance Bank monthly payout rate table, effective 1 September 2026.

Compounding also differs: most banks compound quarterly on cumulative deposits (SBI compounds quarterly for tenors of six months and above), so the annualised yield printed on your FD receipt is higher than the headline rate — AU shows the effect explicitly, converting its 7.40% rate into a 7.61% annualised yield for 30-36 months. When comparing two banks, compare the maturity value for the same amount and tenor, not the rate card. The site's FD calculator does exactly this comparison.

The industry convention is an extra 0.50% a year for resident senior citizens (60 and above), and the big four all follow it — SBI 6.25% becomes 6.75% for a 1-year FD, HDFC's 6.50% slab becomes 7.10%, ICICI's 6.60% becomes 7.20%. Two variations are worth knowing:

• SBI WeCare: for FDs of five years and above, senior citizens get an extra 0.50% over and above the usual 0.50% — 6.05% becomes 7.05%, the bank's best senior rate. Source: SBI's rate schedule as tabulated by Paisabazaar, cross-checked against SBI's own site teaser, 2 November 2026.
• SBI Patrons: depositors aged 80 and above get a further 0.10% over the senior-citizen rate on regular bookings. Source: same SBI schedule, 2 November 2026.

Small finance banks extend the premium too — AU's senior top is 7.90% against 7.40% general — but read the fine print: AU's senior rates are restricted to resident individuals with an existing banking relationship, and NRI depositors get no senior premium anywhere. NRIs should also note the 1-year minimum for NRE FDs and that NRE deposits pay no interest if broken within a year. Source: AU Small Finance Bank terms on its rate page, 2 November 2026.

This is where most rate comparisons stop too early. Interest on FDs and RDs is taxed at your income-tax slab rate — there is no special rate — and tax deduction at source works as follows:

• Banks, post offices, cooperative banks and NBFCs deduct 10% TDS once the interest they pay you in a financial year crosses ₹50,000 — and the threshold is ₹1,00,000 for senior citizens.
• The threshold counts all interest from one bank together, including recurring deposits (included since June 2015), across every branch — it is computed per bank, not per branch.
• No PAN on file means 20% TDS instead of 10%. TDS is an advance, not the final tax; you reconcile it in your ITR, and if your total income is below the taxable limit, submit Form 15G (Form 15H for seniors) at the start of the year to stop the deduction.

Source: Income Tax Department's threshold-limits reference on incometaxindia.gov.in, as amended for AY 2026-27, fetched 2 November 2026. One 2026 change worth knowing: these thresholds carry unchanged into the new Income-tax Act, 2025, in force from 1 April 2026, where the FD-interest TDS provision is renumbered as Section 393(1) — Axis Bank's own FD tax note cites it. Source: Axis Bank FD page, 2 November 2026; thresholds corroborated by tax2win's FY 2026-27 TDS rate chart.

And the deductions: under the old regime, resident senior citizens claim up to ₹50,000 of deposit interest under Section 80TTB, and the 5-year tax-saver FD qualifies for the ₹1.5 lakh Section 80C deduction — the latter matters only if you opt the old regime, because the default new regime offers neither 80C nor 80TTB. Source: Income Tax Department threshold-limits reference, 2 November 2026.

Nobody knows where rates go next, and the quarterly small-savings review has held rates flat for about two years — but bank rates have already drifted down. Splitting a sum across 1, 2, 3 and 5-year deposits means one rung matures every year: you keep liquidity, re-book at the then-best rates, and never commit the whole amount at the cycle's bottom. A retiree can ladder across banks within the DICGC cap; a working professional can ladder across tenors at one bank. Run each rung through the FD calculator and let the maturity calendar, not the rate card, drive the decision.

1. The premature-withdrawal penalty. SBI docks 0.50% on bookings up to ₹5 lakh and 1% above; ICICI charges 0.50-1.00% by original tenor; AU charges a flat 1%. Equitas charges none on withdrawals after six months. Source: the banks' rate pages as cited, 2 November 2026.

2. Whether the deposit is non-callable. Large deposits above ₹1 crore typically lock away the premature-exit option — fine if you will hold, expensive if you might not.

3. The per-bank insurance cap. ₹5 lakh principal plus interest, per bank. Check your total exposure, not each FD's size.

4. Cumulative or payout. Payout for income, cumulative for growth; the payout rate is always the lower of the two.

5. The effective date on the rate card. SBI's current card dates from December 2025, HDFC's from August 2026, ICICI's from late October — banks revise without fanfare, so screenshot what you booked at.

This is educational content, not investment advice. Rates are as verified on 2 November 2026 and change without notice; confirm on the bank's official page before booking, and consult a SEBI-registered adviser for decisions specific to your situation.