Enter the deposit, rate, and tenure — quarterly compounding by default, matching how Indian banks actually calculate FD interest.
Fixed deposits use compound interest: maturity = P × (1 + r/n)^(n×t), where P is your deposit, r the annual rate, n the compounding frequency per year, and t the tenure in years. Most Indian banks compound quarterly, which is the default above.
Yes — FD interest is fully taxable as "income from other sources" at your slab rate, and banks deduct TDS at 10% if annual interest exceeds ₹40,000 (₹50,000 for senior citizens), or 20% if you haven't linked PAN. The maturity figure above is pre-tax; check the Tax Calculator to see how this interest affects your total tax once added to other income.
Indian banks typically offer FD depositors aged 60+ an additional 0.25–0.75% over the standard rate (0.50% is the most common), recognizing that seniors often rely more heavily on fixed-income products for regular income. Toggle it on and adjust the base rate field to see the higher effective return — it's a real, meaningful difference over a multi-year tenure.
Premature withdrawal typically incurs a penalty of 0.5–1% on the interest rate, and the FD earns the rate applicable for the period actually held, not the originally booked rate — so breaking a 5-year FD after 1 year usually earns notably less than a fifth of the projected interest. Some banks offer specific "no-penalty" or partial-withdrawal FD variants at a slightly lower headline rate as a trade-off for that flexibility.
An FD is a one-time lump-sum deposit. If you're depositing a fixed amount every month instead, use the RD calculator.
The core concept — lock money away for a fixed term at a fixed rate, in exchange for a higher return than an instant-access account — exists worldwide under different names. In the US, it's a Certificate of Deposit (CD), typically FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per depositor per bank, with terms from a few months to 5 years and an early-withdrawal penalty usually expressed as a number of months' interest rather than a rate cut. In the UK, it's a fixed-rate savings bond ("fixed-rate bond" or "term deposit"), FSCS-protected up to £85,000, generally with no early access at all rather than a penalty-based one. Continental Europe uses term deposits (Festgeld in Germany, dépôt à terme in France) under similar national deposit-guarantee schemes (typically €100,000 under the EU-wide floor). The math this calculator uses — compound interest at a fixed rate over a fixed term — applies identically to all of these; only the compounding convention, insurance limits, and early-withdrawal rules differ by country and product.
India's DICGC insures bank deposits (including FDs) up to ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank; the US FDIC insures up to $250,000; the UK's FSCS covers up to £85,000; and the EU's deposit guarantee scheme floor is €100,000 (implemented per member state, sometimes higher). If you're holding a fixed deposit larger than your country's insured limit, spreading it across multiple banks is a common way to keep the full amount protected.
More frequent compounding means interest starts earning interest sooner within each year — quarterly compounding produces a slightly higher effective annual yield than annual compounding at the identical stated rate, though the gap is modest (a fraction of a percent) at typical FD rates. This is exactly why Indian banks quote FD rates alongside their compounding frequency, and why this calculator lets you switch it to match your specific bank's terms.
Worked example: ₹1,00,000 for 5 years at 7% compounded quarterly: 100,000 × (1 + 0.07/4)^20 ≈ ₹1,41,478 — about ₹41,478 of interest. With the senior citizen toggle adding 0.5% (7.5% total), the same deposit grows to roughly ₹1,44,996 instead — about ₹3,500 more over the term from that single rate bump.
FD interest is taxable income — see what changed under India's new Income Tax Act 2025 for the current slabs. India-specific money rules are worked through end to end in our book, Paisa Playbook. Deposit rates move with the repo, usually faster than loan rates do — the August RBI preview covers what an easing cycle means for savers. Fixed deposit interest is fully taxable, so the regime you are on matters; if you rent, the HRA exemption calculator is usually the deciding number.