Savings
Axis Bank RD interest rates: the twelve rungs, and the tenures the card leaves out
Axis Bank pays 6.50% on any RD from 18 months to ten years and 7.25% to seniors at five years. The rungs, the ₹10 late fee, and what ₹5,000 a month becomes.
Axis Bank’s recurring deposit schedule, effective 22 December 2025, pays a general depositor 6.50% on every tenure from 18 months to ten years and a resident senior citizen 7.25%, but only on the 60-month and 120-month rungs. Below 18 months the curve climbs steeply — 5.50% at six months, 6.25% at twelve — and above it the general rate never moves again. The instalment rules are where the money is won or lost: a ₹10 per ₹1,000 monthly default penalty, a maturity date that follows the last instalment rather than the calendar, and a closure penalty of a full percentage point.
Rates below are for resident recurring deposits under ₹3 crore, read from Axis Bank’s own RD interest rates page on 10 September 2026. The page says rates change without prior notice, so confirm the figure on the booking screen.
The rungs Axis prices, and the ones it leaves out
| Tenure | General | Senior citizen |
|---|---|---|
| 6 months | 5.50% | 6.00% |
| 9 months | 5.75% | 6.25% |
| 12 months | 6.25% | 6.75% |
| 15 months | 6.45% | 6.95% |
| 18 months | 6.50% | 7.00% |
| 21 months | 6.50% | 7.00% |
| 24 months | 6.50% | 7.00% |
| 30 months | 6.50% | 7.00% |
| 36 months | 6.50% | 7.00% |
| 48 months | 6.50% | 7.00% |
| 60 months | 6.50% | 7.25% |
| 120 months | 6.50% | 7.25% |
Nothing is collapsed here — that is the whole card, twelve rows and two columns. The general column rises 100 basis points between six and eighteen months and then holds for eight and a half years, so a depositor who commits the extra 102 months is paid nothing for them. The senior column has one step the general column does not: from 18 to 48 months the uplift is a flat 50 basis points, and at 60 months it widens to 75 and reaches 7.25%. An Axis savings account, for orientation, pays 2.50% on balances below ₹2,000 crore, effective 3 April 2026.
The card the RD page points at
Axis’s own RD calculator offers a tenure only in whole years plus zero, three, six or nine months: 39 bookable tenures between six months and ten years. The rate card prices twelve. For the other 27 the RD page carries a link reading “Click here to learn more about RD rates based on maturity period”, pointing at the fixed deposit interest rates page. That is the closest Axis comes to saying its RD rates are its FD rates.
So the two were compared rung by rung on 10 September 2026 against the domestic card of that date, and all twelve match. Filled in from the FD card, none of the missing 27 beats 6.50% either. The dates differ, though, and that is the risk: the RD schedule is dated 22 December 2025, while the FD card was repriced on 10 September 2026 and its retail column happened to come through unchanged. Read the RD page on the day you book, not the FD card, whose 45-day step and its 3-months-25-days cliff — the latter only in the ₹3 crore to ₹5 crore columns — are in our page on Axis Bank FD interest rates.
What ₹5,000 a month becomes
| Instalment and tenure | Rate | Total deposited | Maturity value | Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₹5,000 for 6 months | 5.50% | ₹30,000 | ₹30,483 | ₹483 |
| ₹5,000 for 12 months | 6.25% | ₹60,000 | ₹62,061 | ₹2,061 |
| ₹5,000 for 18 months | 6.50% | ₹90,000 | ₹94,752 | ₹4,752 |
| ₹5,000 for 24 months | 6.50% | ₹1,20,000 | ₹1,28,428 | ₹8,428 |
| ₹5,000 for 36 months | 6.50% | ₹1,80,000 | ₹1,99,126 | ₹19,126 |
| ₹5,000 for 60 months | 6.50% | ₹3,00,000 | ₹3,54,961 | ₹54,961 |
| ₹5,000 for 60 months, senior | 7.25% | ₹3,00,000 | ₹3,62,055 | ₹62,055 |
| ₹5,000 for 120 months | 6.50% | ₹6,00,000 | ₹8,44,956 | ₹2,44,956 |
| ₹5,000 for 120 months, senior | 7.25% | ₹6,00,000 | ₹8,80,613 | ₹2,80,613 |
These are our figures, not the bank’s. The method follows what Axis states — interest applied on a quarterly compounding basis — taking each instalment from the month it is paid, compounding quarterly for the full quarters it stays and adding simple interest for the odd month or two. Axis works in days over a 365-day year, so its calculator will differ by a few rupees on the broken quarter; run your own instalment through the RD calculator. On the same ₹3,00,000 of five-year instalments a senior earns ₹7,094 more than a general depositor.
The instalment rules that decide the outcome
The minimum instalment is ₹500. Axis prints no multiple above that and no maximum, though the slider on its own calculator stops at ₹10 lakh a month. Eligibility covers resident individuals, HUFs, NRIs, minors under a guardian and joint accounts of up to two holders.
The instalment for any calendar month must be paid on or before the last working day of that month, and interest accrues from the date it is credited, not the date it was due. A due date on a public holiday is debited the next working day, and standing instructions cannot be set for the 28th, 29th, 30th or 31st at all. Whether the instalment can be changed later is not stated: the clause that forbids it — “The installment amount once fixed cannot be altered at any later date” — sits in the Dream Builder section, not the general one.
Paying late costs ₹10 per ₹1,000 a month
For recurring deposits opened on or after 9 August 2016, a delay beyond the calendar month attracts ₹10 per ₹1,000 per month, any fraction of a month counting as a full one — an instalment due on 31 May and paid on 2 June is one month late. It is deducted from the payment made at maturity rather than collected at the time. On a ₹5,000 instalment that is ₹50 for one late month, while the same ₹5,000 earns about ₹27 in a month at 6.50%. As a rate it is 1% a month, or 12% a year, nearly double what the deposit pays.
Axis prints a second, older regime alongside it: “For existing Recurring Deposit customers, a late payment penalty at the existing Business Prime Lending Rate +4% (for the period of delay) will be charged”. It does not date that rule against the August 2016 one, and it does not publish the Business Prime Lending Rate on the deposit pages, so an older deposit’s late charge cannot be worked out from what is published.
Maturity, and the day after
When all the stipulated instalments are paid, the accumulated amount with interest is repayable on the maturity date — but where the last instalment reaches the bank after its due date, the proceeds become repayable one month after that date, whatever the stated maturity. The auto-renewal clauses in the same document are written for fixed deposits and none mentions a recurring deposit, so do not assume an RD rolls over. What does apply is the unclaimed-maturity rule: proceeds left unpaid attract the savings rate or the contracted rate, whichever is lower — at 2.50%, the wrong place for a matured five-year balance to sit.
Dream Builder RD forgives a missed instalment, at a price
Dream Builder RD is goal-linked, taking a goal of ₹5,000 to ₹30 lakh, an instalment of ₹500 to ₹50,000 and a tenure of six months to five years in multiples of three months, with top-ups of ₹50 or more up to ₹25,000 a week. Its distinguishing clause is blunt: no penalty is levied for missed instalments. Three costs come with that. A standing instruction, once set, cannot be cancelled during the tenure; the deposit matures on the contracted date even if instalments are unpaid and the goal unmet; and it is auto-closed at maturity, with no renewal and no partial closure. No separate rate card is published for it, so confirm the rate on the booking screen.
Breaking it early: three documents, three wordings
Axis describes the premature-closure rate in three places and they do not quite agree. The RD rate page prints “1% below the contracted rate”; the FD and RD terms say 1.00% below the card rate prevailing on the date of deposit, as applicable for the period the deposit actually stayed; the product page says whichever of the two is lower. The terms are the strictest reading and the one to plan against: the rate is rebuilt down to the shorter tenure first, and only then does the percentage point come off.
Take ₹5,000 a month booked for 60 months at 6.50% and closed after 24 instalments. The 24-month rung on the booking date paid 6.50%, so the rebuild costs nothing; the penalty takes it to 5.50%, and ₹1,20,000 of instalments earns about ₹7,091 instead of ₹8,428 — a gap of ₹1,337, all of it penalty. Close after nine instalments instead and the nine-month rung of 5.75% applies, less 1.00%: ₹897 of interest against ₹1,087, so 17% of it goes. A senior loses on both counts, because that column is not flat: a 60-month deposit contracted at 7.25% and closed at 24 months falls to 7.00% and then to 6.00%, earning ₹7,758 where a plain 24-month senior RD would have paid ₹9,102.
No interest at all is payable on a deposit closed within seven days of booking, and between seven and 14 days the rate for the period held applies without penalty — the product page states only the 14-day half of that. Payment to a survivor on the death of a joint holder attracts no penal charge.
The obvious alternative may not be open here. Axis offers an overdraft of up to 85% of a deposit’s value at 2% above the deposit rate — but its page says “only Axis Bank Fixed Deposits”, and neither it nor the deposit terms says whether a recurring deposit can be pledged. Ask before assuming it, and read when borrowing beats breaking in our page on loans against a fixed deposit.
Seniors, and the step at five years
| Category | Uplift over the general rate |
|---|---|
| Age 60 and above, 6 to 48 months | +50 basis points |
| Age 60 and above, 60 and 120 months | +75 basis points |
| Age 80 and above | No separate rate |
The uplift goes to resident individuals who have attained 60 as on the date of booking or renewal, and Axis states plainly that a customer who turns 60 during the tenure of an existing deposit does not get the preferential rate for the rest of that term. If a sixtieth birthday is near, the deposit is worth delaying. The bank also reserves the right to modify the rate if the date of birth on its records is later corrected.
The comparison a monthly saver should make first is with the Post Office. The National Savings Recurring Deposit pays 6.7% for the period running to 30 September 2026, unchanged since October 2023, on a fixed five-year term with no senior band at all. For a general depositor that beats Axis by 20 basis points — about ₹1,876 more on ₹5,000 a month over five years, sovereign-backed and outside any insurance ceiling. For a senior it runs the other way: Axis’s 7.25% earns roughly ₹5,219 more. The scheme’s rules are in our page on the Post Office RD interest rate, the wider family in post office savings schemes. A retiree with a lump sum belongs in neither: the Senior Citizens Savings Scheme pays 8.2% for the quarter ending 30 September 2026, quarterly, up to ₹30 lakh.
Tax, and the threshold Axis’s own page gets wrong
Recurring deposit interest is taxable at your slab rate as income from other sources, in the year it accrues, not the year the deposit pays. A 60-month RD is taxed across six financial years while the money arrives in one.
Axis correctly cites section 393(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025: the deduction is worked out on the total interest projected across the customer’s deposits for the year and taken proportionately when interest is applied. The thresholds are ₹50,000 of interest across all branches of the bank in a financial year, ₹1,00,000 for a resident senior citizen, at 10% where PAN is on record and 20% where it is not. The FAQ on Axis’s own RD rates page still says tax is not payable until interest exceeds ₹40,000, or ₹50,000 for a senior — stale on the figures and wrong in principle, because a TDS threshold has never been a tax exemption.
Where there is no liability at all, the declaration that stops the deduction is Form 121, which replaced the older forms from 1 April 2026 and which the bank’s terms name correctly. One declaration per customer ID covers every deposit, it must be filed afresh each financial year, and it takes effect only from the date of submission. The rest is in our guide to tax on FD interest, every word of which applies to an RD: at 6.50% before tax a depositor in the 30% slab keeps about 4.47% after cess.
Insurance stops at ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank
Deposit insurance covers eligible principal and accrued interest up to ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank, in the same right and capacity, after lawful set-off. Axis’s own terms restate it, confirm that recurring deposits are covered and confirm that balances across every branch are aggregated.
A recurring deposit approaches that ceiling quietly, because the balance peaks only at the end. On our arithmetic ₹5,000 a month at 6.50% passes ₹5 lakh at the 80th instalment, so any RD longer than about six years and eight months at that instalment finishes partly uninsured. To keep a five-year RD inside the cover on its own the instalment has to stay under roughly ₹7,000, and for a ten-year RD under roughly ₹2,950 — less again if you hold a savings balance or an FD at the same bank, because every Axis balance counts against the one ₹5 lakh ceiling. Joint holdings and claim timing are in DICGC deposit insurance.
Before you book
| If the money is needed in | The rung that fits | General rate | The trap next to it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Six months | 6 months | 5.50% | Nine months pays 5.75%, twelve pays 6.25% |
| A year | 12 months | 6.25% | 15 months pays 6.45% for one more quarter |
| Fifteen to eighteen months | 15 or 18 months | 6.45% or 6.50% | 18 months is the last rung that raises the rate |
| Two to four years | 24 to 48 months | 6.50% | Identical to the 18-month rung |
| Five years or more | 60 or 120 months | 6.50% | Only a senior is paid for going past 48 months, at 7.25% |
| Uncertain monthly surplus | Dream Builder RD, up to 5 years | Confirm at booking | No missed-instalment penalty, but the standing instruction cannot be cancelled |
| Possibly needed early | Any rung | Card rate less 1.00% | Below 18 months the rebuild bites as well as the penalty |
Set the tenure to a rung the card actually prices, so the quoted rate can be checked against a published figure. Put the standing instruction on a date between the 1st and the 27th and keep the funding account topped up. Check the customer category if a senior citizen is the first holder, and compare the number against the fixed deposit interest rates on the same money in one go — a lump sum you already hold does not belong in a recurring deposit.
Common questions
What is the Axis Bank RD interest rate right now?
On the recurring deposit schedule effective 22 December 2025, read on 10 September 2026, the general rate runs from 5.50% at six months to 6.50%, which is reached at 18 months and paid unchanged on every longer rung to ten years. The senior-citizen rate runs from 6.00% to 7.25%, and 7.25% appears only on the 60-month and 120-month rungs. All of these are for recurring deposits below ₹3 crore. Axis states that the rates are subject to change without prior notice, so read the card on the day you book.
Are Axis Bank RD rates the same as its FD rates?
At the twelve tenures the RD card prints, yes. Axis publishes no sentence saying so, but its RD page carries a link reading "Click here to learn more about RD rates based on maturity period" that points at the fixed deposit interest rates page, and a rung-by-rung comparison on 10 September 2026 found every RD rate equal to the FD rate for the same period: 5.50% at six months, 6.25% at twelve, 6.50% from 18 months, 7.25% for a senior at five years. The two cards carry different effective dates, so check the RD page itself.
What happens if I miss an Axis Bank RD instalment?
The account is not closed and the instalment is not written off. For recurring deposits opened on or after 9 August 2016, Axis charges a default penalty of ₹10 per ₹1,000 per month of delay, with any fraction of a month counted as a full month, and deducts it from the payment made at maturity. On a ₹5,000 instalment that is ₹50 for one late month, against about ₹27 that the same instalment earns in a month at 6.50%. The maturity date also shifts: where the last instalment reaches the bank late, the proceeds become repayable one month after that date.
What does closing an Axis Bank recurring deposit early cost?
Interest is recomputed at the rate that applied on the booking date for the period the money actually stayed, and one full percentage point comes off that. Because the general card is flat at 6.50% from 18 months to ten years, a general depositor who breaks a five-year RD at two years loses only the 1.00% penalty: about ₹7,091 of interest on ₹1,20,000 of instalments instead of ₹8,428. Break the same deposit at nine months and the rebuild bites too, at 5.75% less 1.00%. Nothing is payable on a closure within seven days of booking.
Do senior citizens get a higher RD rate at Axis Bank?
Yes, by 50 basis points on every rung up to 48 months and by 75 basis points at 60 and 120 months, where 6.50% becomes 7.25%. Axis restricts the uplift to resident individuals aged 60 or above on the date the deposit is booked or renewed, and states that a customer who turns 60 during the tenure of an existing deposit does not get the preferential rate for the rest of that term. There is no separate band for depositors aged 80 and above; the card has two columns.
Sources
Rates and rules on this page were read directly from the following sources on the dates shown. Figures change — if you are about to act on one, confirm it at the source.
- Recurring Deposit Interest Rate (Sept 2026) — the RD schedule for deposits less than ₹3 crore, w.e.f 22nd December 2025, with the premature-withdrawal rate and the delayed-instalment penalty
- Recurring Deposits — product page (minimum ₹500, tenure six months to ten years, quarterly compounding, the ₹10 per ₹1,000 default penalty and the Business Prime Lending Rate plus 4% alternative, premature-closure wording, eligibility)
- Axis Bank FD and RD Terms and Conditions — clause 2 Recurring Deposit, clause 6 Dream Builder RD, Premature Encashment, Auto Renewal / Maturity Instructions, Form 121, senior-citizen eligibility, DICGC
- Interest Rates on Domestic Deposits — deposits less than ₹5 crores, w.e.f 10th September 2026 (PDF rate card)
- FD Interest Rates (Sept 2026) — the six deposit schedules and their effective dates
- Savings Account Interest Rates (Sept 2026) — domestic, NRO and NRE savings rate effective from 3 April 2026
- Loan Against Fixed Deposit — up to 85% of the value of an Axis Bank Fixed Deposit, minimum ₹25,000, rate 2% above the term deposit rate
- National Savings Recurring Deposit Account Scheme — interest rate since inception (6.7% for 1.10.2023 to 30.09.2026)
- Small savings schemes — interest rates
- Guide to deposit insurance