With interest rates hovering at high levels, depositors are recommended to lock their money in fixed deposits at the interest rates that prevail.
Since May last year, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised the benchmark interest rate (repo rate) by 250 basis points in a series of successive monetary policy reviews.
These interest rate hikes not only translated into costlier loans for borrowers but also led to higher interest rates on fixed deposits (FDs).
Banks usually offer a higher interest rate to the senior citizens. As a result, some depositors go to the extent of opening term deposit accounts in the names of their parents or grandparents so as to earn some extra bucks.
So, we collate the interest rates offered by some of the banks on their fixed deposits to senior citizens here.
These banks offer interest rates in the range of 7.5 to 8.5 percent to depositors in their golden years:
HDFC Bank: HDFC Bank offers 7.75 percent to senior citizens for deposits of tenure longer than 5 years, and also for tenure between 4 years 7 months to 55 months.
And when the tenure is between two years 11 months to 35 months, the rate of interest is 7.7 percent.
| Bank | Highest interest* | Tenure |
| HDFC Bank | 7.75% | > 5 years |
| ICICI Bank | 7.6% | 15-24 months |
| Union Bank | 7.5% | 399 days |
| IDFC First | 8% | 1 year 1 day to 550 days |
| SBI | 7.6% | 400 days |
(*The highest interest rates offered to senior citizens are shown)
ICICI Bank: This bank offers 7.6 percent to senior citizens for deposits of tenure that ranges between 15 months to 2 years. When the tenure is longer than 2 years, the interest rate declines marginally to 7.5 percent.
For shorter tenures (1-2 years), the bank offers an interest that ranges between 7.2 to 7.6 percent.
Union Bank of India: This bank offers 7.5 percent to senior citizens for deposits of 399 days. The deposits that are longer than 3 years offer an interest of 7.2 percent per annum.
IDFC First Bank: It offers 8 percent to senior citizens for the deposits of tenure that ranges between one year one day to 550 days. When the tenure is between 551 days to three years, the interest rate falls to 7.75 percent.
State Bank of India (SBI): The state lender offers 7.6 percent to senior citizens for a special scheme known as Amrit Kalash for 400 days. This scheme will be open for depositors until the end of this calendar year i.e., Dec 31, 2023.
When the tenure ranges between 2-3 years or 5-10 years, the rate of interest is 7.5 percent.
