FD and RD Calculator

CalculatorsDeposit maturity with the quarterly compounding Indian banks use — not the annual sort.

Amount deposited

₹

5 lakh

Interest rate

% p.a.

The rate on the board. Because it compounds quarterly, what you actually earn is a little more.

Years

Banks usually cap deposits at ten years.

Months

A part quarter earns simple interest.

Interest handling

Interest stays in and earns interest of its own. This is a cumulative FD.

Your income-tax slab

Optional. Deposit interest is taxable as income at your slab — this is not looked up, it is whatever you pick.

Maturity amount

₹7,07,389

₹5,00,000 grows by ₹2,07,389 over 5 years

P × (1 + r÷4)^quarters, then simple interest on any part quarter

Interest earned: ₹2,07,389; 20 quarters; maturity − amount deposited
Effective rate: 7.19%; what quarterly compounding is worth; (1 + r÷4)^4 − 1
Growth: 41%; over the whole term; maturity ÷ deposit − 1
Compounding: Quarterly; 4 times a year; the Indian bank convention

DepositInterest

Quarterly compounding is why this is higher than a generic compound-interest calculator would tell you. A part quarter at the end earns simple interest, which is what banks actually do rather than raising the rate to a fractional power.

How this is calculated

Indian bank deposits compound QUARTERLY. That is the whole difference.

Fixed deposit, interest reinvested
  quarters = whole quarters in the term
  M = P × (1 + r÷4)^quarters
      × (1 + r × leftover months ÷ 12)    simple interest on a part quarter

Fixed deposit, interest paid out
  each payment  = P × r ÷ 12  monthly,  or  P × r ÷ 4  quarterly
  total interest = P × r × years          nothing compounds
  the deposit itself comes back at the end

Recurring deposit — monthly instalments, still compounded quarterly
  instalment k stays in for (n − k + 1) months
  M = Σ  R × (1 + r÷4)^((n − k + 1) ÷ 3)

Effective annual rate = (1 + r÷4)^4 − 1
  7% on the board is 7.19% actually paid.

Read this before you rely on the number

This is a projection, not financial advice.

This is arithmetic, not financial advice, and it is an estimate of what a deposit would pay on the terms you enter. Banks differ in how they handle a part quarter, some apply a lower rate for monthly payouts, and senior-citizen rates and premature-withdrawal penalties are not modelled here. Interest is taxable as ordinary income in the year it accrues, and the tax figure shown uses only the slab you pick — no threshold, exemption or TDS rule is looked up or assumed. Check the maturity figure against your bank's own before you commit.

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How it works

Almost every generic compound-interest calculator assumes annual compounding. Indian bank deposits compound quarterly, and the gap is real money: ₹1,00,000 at 7% for five years is ₹1,40,255 compounded annually and ₹1,41,478 compounded quarterly. Getting that right is the reason this page exists rather than pointing you at a general one.

Quarterly compounding also means the rate on the board is not the rate you earn. Interest credited in March starts earning interest itself in April, so 7% nominal is worth 7.19% over a year. That effective figure is the one to use when comparing a deposit against anything that compounds differently — and it is why a deposit and a debt fund quoting the same number are not offering the same thing.

A term that is not a whole number of quarters gets treated in two parts: compound interest for the completed quarters, then simple interest on the months left over. That is the bank convention, and it pays fractionally more than raising the rate to a fractional power would. The difference on a lakh is a few rupees, which is exactly why it is worth doing properly rather than approximating.

A recurring deposit is the same quarterly compounding applied to money that arrives a month at a time. Each instalment earns for a different length of time — the first for the whole term, the last for a single month — so the maturity is the sum of what each one grows into. This is why an RD of ₹5,000 a month for a year earns much less than an FD of ₹60,000 for a year: most of that ₹60,000 has not been deposited yet.

Worked example

₹1,00,000 for 5 years at 7%, and why the compounding period matters

Quarterly rate 7% ÷ 4 = 1.75% per quarter
Quarters 5 years × 4 = 20
M = 1,00,000 × (1.0175)^20 = 1,41,478
Interest = 41,478
The same money compounded ANNUALLY
M = 1,00,000 × (1.07)^5 = 1,40,255
---------
Difference from getting it right 1,223
Effective rate = (1.0175)^4 − 1 = 7.19%, not 7%

₹1,41,478 at maturity — ₹1,223 more than an annual-compounding calculator would show

How to use it

Pick fixed deposit for a lump sum you are locking away, or recurring deposit for a fixed amount every month.
Enter the rate your bank is quoting. It compounds quarterly, so the effective rate shown will be slightly higher — that is not a bonus, it is what the quoted rate actually means.
Set the term in years and months. A part quarter is handled the way a bank handles it, and the result says how many whole quarters your term contains.
On an FD, choose whether the interest is reinvested or paid out. Reinvesting always ends with more; paying out gives you an income instead.
Optionally pick your income-tax slab to see what is left after tax. Nothing about your tax position is assumed — it applies only the percentage you choose.

What this tool does not do

Banks vary in how they treat a part quarter, and a few compound monthly on some products. Where your bank differs, its figure is the one that counts.
Senior-citizen rates, which are usually 0.25% to 0.50% higher, are not applied automatically. Enter the higher rate yourself if it applies to you.
Some banks pay a slightly reduced rate on a monthly-payout FD, because you receive the money earlier. This page applies the same rate to every payout option.
Premature withdrawal is not modelled. Breaking a deposit early typically means the rate for the period it actually ran, minus a penalty of around 0.5% to 1%.
No tax threshold, exemption or TDS rule is encoded — deliberately, because those change with every Budget and a stale one would be worse than none. The after-tax figure applies only the slab you select.
Tax on deposit interest accrues each year, not at maturity. On a five-year cumulative FD you owe tax annually on interest you have not yet received.
Inflation is not accounted for. A 7% deposit with 6% inflation earns about 1% in real terms, before tax.

Frequently asked questions

Why is your figure higher than the compound-interest calculator I used?

Because that one almost certainly compounded annually. Indian bank deposits compound quarterly, so interest starts earning interest three months in rather than twelve. On ₹1,00,000 at 7% for five years the difference is ₹1,223. If a calculator does not say how often it compounds, it is compounding annually and understating an Indian FD.

What is the effective rate, and why is it higher than the rate I was quoted?

The quoted rate is nominal — it is the annual rate before compounding is taken into account. Because interest is credited quarterly and then earns interest itself, 7% quoted works out at 7.19% actually earned over a year. Both numbers are honest; the effective one is what you should use when comparing against any other investment.

Should I reinvest the interest or take it as income?

Reinvesting always ends with more, because the interest earns interest. Taking a payout gives you plain simple interest — on ₹1,00,000 at 7% for five years that is ₹35,000 rather than ₹41,478. The payout option exists for people who need the income now, and that is a perfectly good reason to accept less.

Why does my RD earn so much less than an FD of the same total?

Because the money arrives gradually. ₹5,000 a month for a year is ₹60,000 by the end, but your average balance across the year is only about half that, and your last instalment earns for one month. At 6.5% the RD earns roughly ₹2,143 where a ₹60,000 FD earns about ₹3,996. That is not a worse rate — it is less money, deposited later.

What happens if my term is not a whole number of quarters?

The completed quarters get compound interest and the leftover months get simple interest, which is the standard bank convention. A 17-month deposit is five whole quarters plus two months. The result tells you the split so you can check it against your bank's working.

How is deposit interest taxed?

As ordinary income at your slab, and it accrues each year rather than at maturity — so on a five-year cumulative FD you owe tax annually on interest you have not yet touched. Your bank may also deduct part of it at source. This page applies only the slab percentage you pick and deliberately encodes no threshold or exemption, because those change with every Budget.

Does this apply to a tax-saving FD?

The maturity maths is the same. What differs is the terms around it: a five-year lock-in with no premature withdrawal and no loan against it. The deduction you claim on the deposit is a separate matter from what it grows into, and it is not modelled here.

Will these numbers change when the Budget does?

No. Nothing on this page encodes a rate, a threshold or a slab — only the arithmetic of compounding, which does not change. That is why this is one of the few calculators here with no annual review date attached to it.

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Last updated 7 September 2026.