FD rules change from 1 October: What depositors should know about bulk deposit rates — SkimNews
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- RBI introduced revised rules on how commercial and other specified banks disclose, present, and apply interest rates on bulk fixed deposits, effective 1 October 2026.
- Banks must publish their applicable bulk-deposit interest rates on official websites by 10 am every working day, with a 10-minute grace period allowing updates until 10:10 am.
- Banks will be mandated to follow the rates displayed on their websites when paying interest on eligible deposits, giving depositors a fixed reference point for negotiations.
- For scheduled commercial banks, a bulk deposit is defined as a single-rupee term deposit of ₹3 crore and above, though the threshold differs across other bank categories.
- Banks cannot offer different interest rates for similar bulk deposits simply because they are booked at different branches — rates must be consistent across a bank's network.
- Banks retain flexibility to differentiate bulk deposit rates based on the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) treatment, a carve-out that also extends to certain non-resident rupee deposits.
- Retail FD investors are unaffected: the framework governs how banks determine, disclose, and apply bulk deposit rates, not existing retail FD interest rates.
- The revised framework applies to commercial banks, small finance banks, regional rural banks, local area banks, payment banks, and urban cooperative banks.
Why it matters: For depositors parking ₹3 crore or more in a single FD, the new rules standardize how banks quote rates and eliminate branch-level cherry-picking — locking in published rates as the binding offer. Large deposit holders gain a transparent daily benchmark to compare banks and negotiate from, while the LCR carve-out means banks still retain limited room to price deposits based on regulatory run-off treatment.
Ask SkimNews
