Savings
IDFC FIRST Bank FD interest rates: a 7.10% plateau from 500 days to three years
IDFC FIRST Bank pays 7.10% from 500 days to 3 years and 7.35% to seniors, who pay no closure penalty. The 0.25 pp uplift, the closure maths and the 7% savings slab.
IDFC FIRST Bank’s retail term-deposit schedule, effective 1 September 2026, pays its highest general rate of 7.10% on every tenure from 500 days to three years, with 7.35% for depositors aged 60 and above. There is no separate 80-plus band: the senior uplift is a flat 25 basis points on every row, smaller than the half-point common on other cards, and the bank compensates with something rarer — no premature closure penalty at all on a senior’s deposit below ₹3 crore. Everything longer than three years pays less, down to 6.00% at ten years.
Rates below are read from IDFC FIRST Bank’s own rate page and PDF rate card on 10 September 2026 and apply to resident domestic term deposits below ₹3 crore. Confirm the rate on the booking screen; the effective date on the bank’s card is what controls, and the card says only that its rates apply until revised further.
The buckets that actually pay
| Tenure | General | Age 60 and above |
|---|---|---|
| 7–29 days | 3.25% | 3.50% |
| 30–45 days | 3.50% | 3.75% |
| 46–90 days | 4.50% | 4.75% |
| 91–180 days | 5.00% | 5.25% |
| 181–370 days | 6.50% | 6.75% |
| 371–499 days | 7.00% | 7.25% |
| 500 days to 3 years | 7.10% | 7.35% |
| 3 years 1 day to 5 years | 6.75% | 7.00% |
| 5 years 1 day to 10 years | 6.00% | 6.25% |
The bank publishes two columns and ten rows; the two it prints for “181 days to less than 1 year” and “1 year to 370 days” carry the same rate and are collapsed here. There is not a single-day bucket anywhere on the card. Where many public sector cards are combs of special one-day tenors, IDFC FIRST’s is nine bands, and the best-paid of them is unusually generous — 596 days wide.
That also settles the one-year question. Anything from 181 to 370 days pays 6.50%, so 365 days and 366 days are the same instruction. The step that matters is the next one.
Four steps, and where they fall
- 370 to 371 days: 6.50% becomes 7.00%, worth about ₹2,600 on ₹5,00,000 over the term on simple interest.
- 499 to 500 days: 7.00% becomes 7.10%, roughly ₹800 on ₹5,00,000 over the term.
- 3 years to 3 years 1 day: 7.10% falls to 6.75%. “Three years and a bit” gives up 35 basis points for the extra day.
- 5 years to 5 years 1 day: 6.75% falls to 6.00%, the steepest drop on the card.
For orientation, the savings account pays 2.50% on balances up to ₹3 lakh, effective the same date, so a 7-to-45-day deposit at 3.25% or 3.50% barely pays for the loss of access. IDFC FIRST’s plateau sits against the special tenors of the large banks in our comparison of FD interest rates across major banks.
The peak is a plateau, and nothing longer pays more
Most 2026 rate cards put their best rate on one special tenor and price the neighbours lower. IDFC FIRST pays 7.10% on anything from 500 days to exactly three years, a band about a year and eight months wide: you do not have to hit a number, only stay inside a generous range.
What you cannot do is get paid for waiting longer. From three years and a day the rate is 6.75%; from five years and a day it is 6.00%, 110 basis points below the plateau, and a ten-year deposit is the worst-paid commitment on the schedule. Three consecutive three-year deposits would out-earn one nine-year deposit by a wide margin, at the price of accepting whatever rate exists on each renewal date. Longer tenure buys a fixed rate for longer, not a higher one.
The savings slab that competes with the deposit
IDFC FIRST’s savings account is progressive, and the tier above ₹3 lakh up to ₹25 lakh pays 7.00% a year, effective 1 September 2026, calculated daily and credited monthly — ten basis points below the FD plateau, with no lock-in and no closure penalty.
The catch is the first ₹3 lakh, which earns 2.50%, so the blended rate is lower than the headline: about 4.30% on ₹5 lakh, 5.65% on ₹10 lakh and 6.46% on ₹25 lakh, on our arithmetic from the bank’s slabs. Above ₹25 lakh the tier drops to 6.25%. And a savings rate can be revised on any day, while a deposit rate is contracted for the term and earned on the whole sum. How tiered savings rates compare across banks is in our page on savings account interest rates.
Maturity, and what happens if you give no instruction
Absent any instruction, the bank’s terms renew a deposit on maturity for a like term at the rate applicable on that date, a cumulative deposit rolling its whole maturity value less tax. The renewal is a fresh deposit at whatever the card says that morning, and breaking it costs the usual penalty.
Where proceeds are left unpaid rather than renewed, the rate page’s FAQ says the unclaimed amount earns the savings rate or the contracted rate, whichever is lower. Tax-saver and green deposits sit outside the auto-renewal default.
Deposits up to 180 days earn simple interest at maturity; above 180 days a cumulative deposit compounds quarterly on completed quarters, with simple interest on the broken period, on a 365-day year (366 in a leap year). The FD calculator gives the maturity value on any tenure; ₹5,00,000 at 7.10% for three years produces roughly ₹6,17,500 before tax.
Breaking it early: the rate is rebuilt, then one percentage point comes off
IDFC FIRST reworded this rule on 1 July 2026. For deposits opened or renewed on or after that date, interest on a premature withdrawal, full or partial, is paid at the rate that prevailed on the booking date for the period the money actually stayed, or the contracted rate, whichever is lower, and the 1% premature closure penalty then comes off. Older deposits get the period rate without the whichever-is-lower test, which matters only where the shorter tenure paid more than the one booked — a ten-year deposit at 6.00% broken after two years, say. Under the new wording the higher period rate no longer helps.
Take ₹5,00,000 booked in the 500-day-to-3-year bucket at 7.10% and closed on day 200. The period served falls in the 181-to-370-day band, which paid 6.50% on the booking date. That is lower than 7.10%, so it applies; deduct 1% and you receive 5.50%, about ₹15,100 on simple interest. Had the contracted rate run for those 200 days you would have earned roughly ₹19,500. The gap is close to ₹4,400 — about ₹2,700 of it the penalty and about ₹1,600 the rebuild. Both figures use simple interest; quarterly compounding after day 180 lifts each a little without changing the comparison.
Five rules attach to the mechanism:
- No interest at all where a domestic deposit is withdrawn before seven days.
- Partial withdrawal leaves the rest intact, at the rate originally booked.
- Reinvestment gets no exemption. Closing a deposit to book another at the same bank still attracts the penalty, and the new deposit takes the rate on the reinvestment date — so a rate rise cannot be chased cheaply.
- Senior citizens pay no penalty on deposits below ₹3 crore, nor does anyone closing a deposit on the depositor’s death; government, quasi-government, regulatory and statutory bodies are exempt too. The exemption removes the 1%; the rate is still rebuilt.
- None of this reaches a tax-saver deposit, which cannot be closed before five years except on death.
If the cash need is temporary, the bank offers an overdraft of up to 90% of the deposit at about 2% above the FD rate, on select deposits — roughly 9.10% against a 7.10% deposit, on the sum drawn — which keeps the contracted rate alive. Compare it with closing in our page on loans against an FD.
Seniors get 25 basis points and a free exit
| Category | What the card gives |
|---|---|
| Age 60 and above, any tenure, deposit below ₹3 crore | +25 basis points, and no premature closure penalty |
| Age 80 and above | No separate band; the same +25 basis points |
| NRE and NRO deposits, any age | No uplift |
| Staff | The terms say the bank may announce special rates; none is published on the card |
The uplift is small: 25 basis points is worth about ₹1,700 on ₹5,00,000 held for 500 days and about ₹3,750 over three years. The exemption is what makes the senior deposit different. A depositor over 60 who books three years at 7.35% and needs the money on day 200 gets the rebuilt rate for that period, 6.75%, with nothing taken off — about ₹18,500 on ₹5,00,000 against the ₹15,100 a general depositor receives on the same closure. For a retiree with uncertain cash needs, the free exit is worth more than the quarter-point.
There is no super-senior column: a depositor aged 80 gets exactly what one aged 60 gets, a real gap against banks that add 75 or 80 basis points at that age, and where those bands exist is in our page on senior citizen FD rates. Eligibility is age 60 or above, and the senior rate is not available to NRI customers. The terms are silent on a depositor who turns 60 during the term; since interest is fixed at the rate on the value date of opening, expect the senior rate on renewal, not on the running deposit.
None of this makes a bank deposit the first home for retirement money. The Senior Citizens Savings Scheme pays 8.2% for the quarter ending 30 September 2026, 85 basis points above IDFC FIRST’s best senior rate, with sovereign backing and a quarterly payout, subject to its ₹30 lakh ceiling, the age-60 test and its own exit rules. Fill that first; our comparison of SCSS against a bank FD sets out where the deposit still wins.
The two schedules published beside the main table
Both carry the same 1 September 2026 date.
The tax-saver deposit pays 6.75% for five years, 7.00% for seniors — the ordinary three-years-and-a-day-to-five-years rate. Residents only, individuals and HUFs, ₹1,000 to ₹1,50,000 a year, PAN mandatory, no premature withdrawal except on death, no pledge for a loan, no auto-renewal. The deduction the bank cites, section 123 read with Schedule XV of the Income-tax Act, 2025, exists under the old regime only; under the default new regime the five-year lock buys nothing.
The green deposit is a 375-day product at 7.00%, 7.25% for seniors, for resident individuals only, from ₹5,000 to under ₹3 crore, with the ordinary payout options and premature-closure rules, senior exemption included. Its auto-closure maturity instruction, changeable only at a branch before maturity, is a feature: it cannot roll you into a fresh deposit without asking.
The terms also describe deposits without a premature withdrawal facility, which cannot be closed, pledged or auto-renewed. No rate for them appears on the retail card, and ₹3 crore and above is branch-only, so treat any non-callable figure seen elsewhere as unverified.
Tax takes the next bite
FD interest is taxable at your slab rate as income from other sources, in the year it accrues, whether or not the bank has paid it. A deposit on the 500-day plateau always crosses at least one 31 March, so it is taxed across two financial years, and a three-year deposit across up to four.
The bank deducts tax at source once interest across all your deposits at IDFC FIRST crosses ₹50,000 in a financial year, or ₹1,00,000 for a resident senior citizen — the thresholds under section 393(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, which the bank’s page cites — at 10% with PAN and 20% without. TDS is charged on the entire interest once the threshold is crossed, not on the excess, and the bank deducts at each interest event — on a cumulative deposit, at every quarterly compounding, on 31 March and at maturity — so the maturity figure on the advice is before tax.
Where you have no tax liability, the declaration is Form 121, which replaced Forms 15G and 15H from 1 April 2026; the bank wants it at the opening of each deposit and again at the start of every financial year, with a valid PAN. Eligibility requires both nil estimated liability and total income below the basic exemption limit. Our guide to tax on FD interest sets out the thresholds and the accrual rule in full. At 7.10% before tax, a depositor in the 30% slab keeps about 4.9% after cess, and that is the number to compare with anything else.
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. IDFC FIRST Bank Limited is on the Reserve Bank’s list of private sector banks, and the cover is the same ₹5 lakh it would be at State Bank of India: a private licence costs no insurance, and size buys none.
The plateau makes the limit bite sooner than at a lower-rate bank. To keep the whole maturity value of a cumulative deposit inside ₹5 lakh, the principal has to be capped at about ₹4.54 lakh for 500 days at 7.10% and about ₹4.05 lakh for three years — our arithmetic on the bank’s rates, not a figure either institution states. Every savings balance, recurring deposit and other FD at the bank counts toward the same ₹5 lakh. Joint accounts, capacities and claim timing are in our page on DICGC deposit insurance.
Before you book
| If the money is needed in | The bucket that fits | General rate | The trap next to it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 45 days | 7–45 days | 3.25–3.50% | The savings slab above ₹3 lakh pays 7.00% with no lock |
| About three months | 91–180 days | 5.00% | 46–90 days pays 4.50% |
| Six months to a year | 181–370 days | 6.50% | 91–180 days pays 5.00%; a year earns the same as 181 days |
| About thirteen months | 371–499 days | 7.00% | 370 days pays 6.50% |
| Seventeen months to three years | 500 days to 3 years | 7.10% | 499 days pays 7.00% |
| Three to five years | 3 years 1 day to 5 years | 6.75% | Exactly 3 years pays 7.10% |
| More than five years | 5 years 1 day to 10 years | 6.00% | The longest commitment is the worst paid |
The minimum is ₹10,000 at a branch and ₹1,000 online. Set the tenure in days, check that the maturity date lands inside the band you meant, give the maturity instruction at booking so the auto-renewal default does not decide for you, and if you are over 60 make sure the deposit is booked in the senior category — the free exit belongs to the category, not to the birthday.
Common questions
Does a longer IDFC FIRST Bank deposit always pay more?
No. On the schedule effective 1 September 2026 the general-public peak is 7.10%, paid on every tenure from 500 days to exactly three years. From three years and a day the rate falls to 6.75%, and from five years and a day to 6.00%, which is where it stays out to ten years. A ten-year deposit therefore earns 1.10 percentage points a year less than a three-year one. Longer tenure buys a fixed rate for longer, not a higher one, and the senior column follows the same shape 25 basis points higher.
What is the senior citizen FD rate at IDFC FIRST Bank, and is there an 80-plus rate?
Depositors aged 60 and above get a flat 25 basis points over the general rate on every tenure, so the peak is 7.35% from 500 days to three years. There is no separate band for depositors aged 80 and above; the card publishes only two columns. What seniors get instead is exemption from the 1% premature closure penalty on deposits below ₹3 crore, which the bank states on its rate card and in its terms. The senior rate is not available on NRE or NRO deposits.
What does breaking an IDFC FIRST Bank FD early cost?
For deposits opened or renewed on or after 1 July 2026, interest is paid at the rate that applied on the booking date to the period the money actually stayed, or the contracted rate, whichever is lower, and 1% is then deducted from that rate. On ₹5,00,000 booked at 7.10% and closed on day 200, the 200-day rate of 6.50% applies, less 1%, giving about ₹15,100 of simple interest against roughly ₹19,500 at the contracted rate. Nothing is paid on a domestic deposit withdrawn before seven days. Senior citizens and closures on death are exempt from the 1%.
Is the 375-day green deposit a better rate than an ordinary FD?
No. The green deposit pays 7.00% for the general public and 7.25% for seniors on a single tenure of 375 days, which is exactly what the ordinary 371-to-499-day bucket pays. It is open to resident individuals only, from ₹5,000 to under ₹3 crore, with the same payout options and the same premature-closure rules, including the senior exemption. The one operational difference is that it is booked with an auto-closure maturity instruction, so it pays out at maturity rather than rolling over.
Does the IDFC FIRST Bank savings account really pay 7%?
Only on part of the balance. The savings rate effective 1 September 2026 is progressive: 2.50% on the first ₹3 lakh, 7.00% on the portion above ₹3 lakh up to ₹25 lakh, 6.25% above that to ₹5 crore and 5.00% beyond. On a ₹5 lakh balance the blended rate is about 4.30%; on ₹10 lakh about 5.65%. A 500-day deposit earns 7.10% on the whole sum and the rate is contracted, whereas the savings slab can be revised on any day. For money needed within weeks the savings slab wins; for money that can wait 500 days the deposit does.
Is the tax-saver FD rate lower than the ordinary five-year rate?
No, and that is unusual. The tax-saver deposit pays 6.75% for five years, 7.00% for seniors, which is the same as the ordinary bucket from three years and a day to five years. It is still 35 basis points below the 7.10% plateau, and it comes with a five-year lock, no premature withdrawal except on death, no loan against it and a ₹1,50,000 ceiling per year. The deduction it buys, under section 123 read with Schedule XV of the Income-tax Act, 2025, exists under the old tax regime only.
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 2026 — Interest Rates for Domestic / NRO / NRE Fixed Deposits of less than ₹3 Crore w.e.f. 01st September 2026, with the Tax Saver Deposit and Green Deposits tables and the FD FAQs
- Interest Rates on Retail Term Deposits — PDF rate card w.e.f. 1st September 2026, including the Important Notes on minimum tenure, interest basis, premature closure and the senior-citizen penalty exemption
- Fixed Deposit and Recurring Deposit T&C — terms for interest calculation, premature closure (deposits opened on or after 1st July 2026), auto-renewal, TDS, tax-saver, green and non-callable deposits
- Fixed Deposit — Open FD Online at Attractive Interest Rate (minimum deposit, overdraft against FD, senior citizen and green deposit features)
- Green Deposits — Invest in Greener Tomorrow (375-day tenure, eligibility, minimum amount, premature withdrawal)
- Savings Account Interest Rates — slabs applicable w.e.f. 1st September 2026
- Bank Links — List of Private Sector Banks in India
- Guide to deposit insurance
- National Savings Time Deposit Account Scheme — interest rates
- Interest Rate on National Savings Schemes — scheme-wise quarterly rates, carrying the 5 Year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme rate for the July–September 2026 quarter