Savings
Bajaj Finance FD rates, and the risk the extra yield pays for
Bajaj Finance pays up to 7.40%, and 7.75% for senior citizens, from 1 May 2026. None of it is DICGC-insured, and an AAA rating is an opinion, not a payment.
Bajaj Finance pays 7.40% a year on a cumulative deposit of 31 to 60 months, and 7.75% to a senior citizen, on the rate card effective 1 May 2026 and read on 4 September 2026. That is 0.60 percentage points above the highest general-public peak in our seven-bank FD rates comparison, checked 27 August 2026. The premium is real, and it is payment for one specific thing: this is a company deposit, so none of it is covered by deposit insurance.
The rate card, tenure by tenure
Bajaj Finance Limited accepts deposits of ₹15,000 to ₹3 crore for 12 to 60 months. The figures below are the annualised rates the company publishes for each payout option, effective 1 May 2026.
Customers below the age of 60:
| Tenure (months) | At maturity | Monthly | Quarterly | Half-yearly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12–17 | 6.60% | 6.41% | 6.44% | 6.49% | 6.60% |
| 18–30 | 6.85% | 6.64% | 6.68% | 6.74% | 6.85% |
| 31–60 | 7.40% | 7.16% | 7.20% | 7.27% | 7.40% |
Senior citizens, same amount band and effective date:
| Tenure (months) | At maturity | Monthly | Quarterly | Half-yearly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12–17 | 6.95% | 6.74% | 6.78% | 6.83% | 6.95% |
| 18–30 | 7.20% | 6.97% | 7.01% | 7.08% | 7.20% |
| 31–60 | 7.75% | 7.49% | 7.53% | 7.61% | 7.75% |
The premium narrows sharply at the short end. At 12 to 17 months the card pays 6.60%, against one-year general rates of 6.25% recorded for both SBI and HDFC Bank in our 27 August snapshot — a gap of 0.35 point, not 0.60. The premium that makes this product interesting lives in the 31-to-60-month bucket, which is also the bucket in which the money is hardest to reach.
The senior uplift is advertised as “up to 0.35% p.a.”, and the “up to” is doing real work. It is a full 0.35 point only on the at-maturity and annual columns. On the monthly-payout column it is 0.33, and on quarterly and half-yearly it is 0.33 or 0.34. The uplift shrinks the moment you ask for income, which is the option most senior depositors want.
Why our bank comparison leaves this out
Our maintained comparison of bank FD rates excludes “NBFC deposits and company fixed deposits” because “adding them would mix different liquidity, eligibility and credit-risk conditions”. The Reserve Bank sets most of those conditions. Its NBFC FAQ records that only NBFCs holding a deposit-accepting Certificate of Registration, with a minimum investment-grade credit rating of BBB– from a SEBI-registered agency, may accept public deposits, and then only up to 1.5 times net owned funds. Such deposits must be repayable after 12 months and not later than 60, cannot be repayable on demand, and the maximum rate any NBFC may offer is capped at 12.5%.
An investment-grade rating is a precondition of being allowed to take deposits at all, not a distinction won on top of it. Its presence tells you only that the floor was cleared; its level tells you by how much.
A rating is an opinion; deposit insurance is a payment
DICGC covers eligible bank deposits up to ₹5 lakh, principal and interest together, per depositor per bank in the same right and capacity — the cover set out in our guide to DICGC deposit insurance. Its guide lists deposits mobilised by a non-banking financial company among the deposits it does not insure, and the RBI’s NBFC FAQ says the same: deposit insurance is not available to depositors of deposit-taking NBFCs, and these public deposits are unsecured.
What stands in its place is a credit rating. CRISIL reaffirmed Crisil AAA/Stable on the fixed deposits on 28 April 2026, and ICRA reaffirmed [ICRA]AAA (Stable) on the fixed deposit on 6 April 2026. CRISIL’s published scale defines AAA as the highest degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations, carrying the lowest credit risk. That is the top of the scale, and it is not a small thing.
It is also not the same kind of thing:
| Bank fixed deposit | Company fixed deposit | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays if the issuer fails | DICGC, up to ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank | Nobody outside the company |
| What backs the promise | A statutory insurance fund | The company’s own balance sheet |
| What you are relying on | A payment obligation | Two agencies’ current opinion |
| How it changes | The limit is set by law | A rating can be revised any day |
The company’s own site carries the distinction, in the language the regulator requires. Bajaj Finance holds a Certificate of Registration dated 5 March 1998 under section 45-IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, and the same paragraph records that RBI accepts no responsibility or guarantee for the company’s financial soundness, or “for repayment of deposits/discharge of the liabilities by the company”. The page advertising 7.75% says at its foot that nobody stands behind it.
Read the rationale, not the badge
If the rating is what you are relying on, read the document rather than the letters. ICRA’s April 2026 rationale records consolidated assets under management of ₹4,84,477 crore at 31 December 2025, a standalone capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio of 21.5% with Tier I at 20.6%, and a liquidity coverage ratio of 248% for that quarter against a regulatory requirement of 100%. The standalone liquidity statement at that date showed no negative cumulative mismatches up to five years. Those are the reasons for the AAA.
The same document names the counterweight. Unsecured consumer finance, personal loan finance and SME finance accounted for about 46% of the consolidated portfolio at 31 December 2025, and gross non-performing assets rose to 1.2% at that date from 1.0% at 31 March 2025 and 0.85% at 31 March 2024. Deposits are 17% of consolidated borrowings, behind non-convertible debentures and subordinated debt at 39% and bank funding at 28%.
Both agencies also publish what would move the rating down. ICRA names consolidated return on assets sustained below 2% together with consolidated gearing consistently above seven times; CRISIL names return on managed assets dropping below 2.0% on a sustained basis, and separately a significant increase in consolidated leverage. Both sets reduce a vague worry to two things a depositor can check in a quarterly result: profitability and leverage. On the second, ICRA records consolidated managed gearing of 3.9 times at December 2025, against the seven times that would put the rating under pressure.
What the extra yield is actually worth
Take ₹5,00,000 for three years. On the company’s own worked examples the cumulative option compounds annually, so 7.40% matures at about ₹6,19,400 — roughly ₹1,19,400 of interest.
The highest general-public peak in our 27 August snapshot was 6.80%, but on a two-year-to-under-three-year bucket; the only peak row there that runs past three years was HDFC Bank’s, at 6.50%. On quarterly compounding, which banks more commonly apply, the same ₹5,00,000 returns about ₹1,12,100 at 6.80% and about ₹1,06,700 at 6.50%.
The premium is therefore worth somewhere between ₹7,300 and ₹12,700 over three years, before tax — roughly ₹5,100 to ₹8,900 at a 30% marginal rate before cess, or about ₹1,700 to ₹3,000 a year. For it, the whole ₹5,00,000 sits outside the insurance perimeter for three years, where at a bank the principal would have sat exactly at the ₹5 lakh ceiling, with only the interest above it uncovered, and at no cost at all.
Interest that leaves the deposit cannot compound inside it. On ₹10,00,000 for 60 months, the cumulative 7.40% matures at about ₹14,28,960. The 7.16% monthly option — principal times rate divided by twelve, the formula the company itself publishes — pays about ₹5,967 a month, ₹3,58,000 over five years, and returns the principal. Cumulative finishes roughly ₹71,000 ahead before a rupee of that income is reinvested. Take the payout because you need the cash flow, not because the two rates look similar, and check both on your own amount with the FD interest rates calculator.
Getting out early costs more than the two points suggest
Bajaj Finance publishes three stages of premature withdrawal, described on its own page as RBI norms for company deposits. The first two have no bank equivalent. A bank’s callable schedule ordinarily permits premature closure at any point, against a recalculated rate and a penalty.
| When you withdraw | What you receive |
|---|---|
| Within 3 months of the deposit | Not permitted, except on the depositor’s death or as permitted by RBI |
| After 3 months, up to 6 months | Principal only, no interest |
| After 6 months, before maturity | Interest at 2% below the rate applicable to the completed tenure; where no rate is specified for that tenure, 3% below the minimum rate offered |
The third row is the expensive one, because the two-point deduction stacks on top of the rate substitution banks already apply. Book 60 months at 7.40% and close after 24 months, and the applicable rate becomes the 18-to-30-month rate of 6.85% less two points, or 4.85%. On ₹5,00,000, compounded annually, that is about ₹49,700 of interest instead of the ₹76,700 the contracted rate would have produced over the same two years. Leaving early costs roughly ₹27,000, far more than the headline two points imply.
The rule leaves two things open. It does not say whether “the rate applicable to the completed tenure” means the rate on your booking date or the rate current when you close, and in a falling-rate year those differ. And because the shortest tenure on the card is 12 months, a deposit closed between six and twelve months has no specified rate for the period completed, so the second limb applies — 3% below the minimum rate offered — without saying which minimum. Ask for both answers in writing before booking.
The company states that a loan against the deposit is available up to 75% of the invested amount on a cumulative FD. At a bank that route usually beats breaking the deposit, because the net cost is only the spread over what the deposit keeps earning; the arithmetic is in our guide to a loan against FD. Here the loan rate is not published on the deposit pages and we could not verify it. Get it in writing, and set it against the ₹27,000 before assuming it wins.
TDS starts five times earlier
Interest is taxable at your slab rate as income from other sources, and a cumulative deposit does not postpone it: interest is ordinarily taxed as it accrues each financial year, even though the company holds it until maturity. That much is identical to a bank deposit, and the mechanics are in our guide to tax on FD interest.
The deduction threshold is not identical. Bajaj Finance’s own rate page states the position: TDS applies above ₹50,000 of interest in a financial year for banks, ₹1,00,000 for senior citizens, and ₹10,000 for NBFCs. We could not confirm that ₹10,000 in the Act itself, so treat it as the issuer’s stated practice rather than a statutory reading we verified. The direction of the difference is not in dispute.
At 7.40%, a deposit of roughly ₹1,35,000 produces ₹10,000 of interest in its first year; at a bank paying 6.50%, you would need about ₹7,70,000 to cross ₹50,000. Deduction is not extra tax, only tax collected early and reclaimable through the return by anyone whose final liability is lower. A depositor seeking non-deduction files the Form 121 declaration, which from 1 April 2026 requires both a nil estimated liability and total income below the basic exemption limit, not merely one of the two.
Where this deposit fits, and where it does not
| The money is… | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your emergency fund | Wrong | Nothing is payable for three months and no interest for six |
| Needed inside a year | Wrong | The shortest tenure is 12 months, by regulation |
| Your whole retirement corpus | Wrong | One uninsured issuer holding everything is a concentration, whatever the rating |
| A sized slice of a ladder, 31–60 months | Defensible | The only bucket where the premium is meaningful |
| A senior citizen’s income ladder | Compare first | Weigh it against bank and sovereign options in our senior citizen FD rates guide first |
Before transferring money, settle three things:
- The legal issuer is Bajaj Finance Limited, an NBFC — not the “Bajaj Finserv” brand the search results show you, and not a bank.
- The rupee amount you are willing to hold uninsured. Decide that figure first and size the deposit to it, rather than starting from the rate and working back.
- The exact bucket and payout column on the confirmation screen, because 30 months and 31 months are different rates and the monthly column is not the headline.
An AAA-rated company deposit is not a bad instrument; it is an uninsured one. Size the position so that being wrong about the rating would cost you less than the premium has paid you.
Common questions
Is a Bajaj Finance fixed deposit covered by the ₹5 lakh deposit insurance?
No. DICGC’s guide lists deposits mobilised by a non-banking financial company among the deposits it does not insure, and the Reserve Bank’s NBFC FAQ says the same thing in one sentence: deposit insurance is not available to depositors of deposit-taking NBFCs. Bajaj Finance Limited is an NBFC, not a bank, so no part of the deposit carries a statutory backstop — not the first ₹5 lakh, not a rupee of it. The same FAQ adds that public deposits with an NBFC are unsecured. Repayment depends on the company remaining able to pay.
Does a CRISIL AAA rating guarantee that I get my money back?
No. CRISIL defines its AAA symbol as the highest degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations, carrying the lowest credit risk. That is an opinion about likelihood, dated the day it is expressed, and it can be revised. ICRA’s April 2026 rationale even prints what would put it under pressure: consolidated return on assets sustained below 2% together with consolidated gearing consistently above seven times. A rating is a forecast you can keep checking, not a promise anyone has funded.
Can I break a Bajaj Finance FD early the way I can break a bank FD?
Not on the same terms. The company publishes three stages: no premature withdrawal within the first three months, except on the depositor’s death or as permitted by RBI; between three and six months, principal only with no interest; and after six months, interest at 2% below the rate applicable to the tenure actually completed, or 3% below the minimum rate offered where no rate is specified for that tenure. A bank’s callable schedule ordinarily permits closure at any point, against a recalculated rate and a penalty. Treat this money as genuinely locked for six months.
Why does the shortest tenure start at 12 months?
Because the regulator sets the window. The Reserve Bank’s NBFC FAQ states that NBFCs may accept or renew public deposits repayable after 12 months but not later than 60 months, and that they cannot accept deposits repayable on demand. The 12-to-60-month range on the rate card is a legal boundary, not a product decision, which is why there is no seven-day or six-month company deposit to set against a bank’s short buckets.
Is TDS on a company FD the same as on a bank FD?
No, and the deduction starts far earlier. Bajaj Finance’s own rate page states that TDS applies once interest exceeds ₹50,000 in a financial year for banks, ₹1,00,000 for senior citizens, and ₹10,000 for NBFCs. Tax at your slab rate is unchanged; only the trigger moves. On a ₹2,00,000 deposit at 7.40%, deduction begins in the first year, where the same money at a bank would not have come close to the threshold. TDS is an advance credit, not a final tax.
Does the senior-citizen uplift really add 0.35 percentage points?
Only on two of the five columns. On the rate card effective 1 May 2026, the senior rate is a full 0.35 point above the general rate on the at-maturity and annual options — 7.75% against 7.40% at 31 to 60 months. On the monthly payout it is 7.49% against 7.16%, a gap of 0.33 point, and the quarterly and half-yearly gaps are 0.33 to 0.34. The advertised “up to 0.35% p.a.” is exact, and the uplift is smallest on the option most income-seeking depositors choose.
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.
- FD Interest Rates — tenure-wise annualised rate card for deposits of ₹15,000 to ₹3 crore, w.e.f. 1 May 2026
- Monthly Interest for 10 Lakh Fixed Deposit — payout formula and worked example
- Bajaj Finance Limited — Rating Rationale, 28 April 2026
- Credit Rating Scale — long-term rating symbols and definitions
- Bajaj Finance Ltd.: Ratings reaffirmed — rating rationale, 6 April 2026
- FAQs — All you wanted to know about NBFCs
- Guide to Deposit Insurance