Savings
Indian Overseas Bank FD rates: 6.60% on 444 days, and a short end that runs backwards
IOB pays 6.60% on one tenure, 444 days; seniors 7.10%, 80-plus 7.35%. The 0.50% closure charge, the 2.90% trap under six months, and ten years priced like three.
Indian Overseas Bank’s retail term-deposit card, in the column the bank labels as revised with effect from 15 May 2026, peaks at 6.60% for the general public on exactly one tenure, 444 days, with 7.10% for depositors aged 60 to 79 and 7.35% for those aged 80 and above. Exactly one year pays 6.50%, every other tenure between one and three years pays 6.40%, and a single row at 6.10% covers everything from three years to the ten-year maximum. Below six months the card is not a curve at all: 121 to 179 days pays 2.90%, the lowest rate on the page.
Rates below were read from IOB’s own deposit page on 11 September 2026, which the bank had last updated the same day, and apply to resident domestic term deposits below ₹3 crore. Confirm the rate on the booking screen; the date on IOB’s page is what controls.
The buckets that actually pay
IOB prints one rate column and two uplift notes, 0.50% for senior citizens and 0.75% for those aged 80 and above. The second and third columns here are that uplift applied to the card, not columns the bank publishes.
| Tenure | General | Age 60–79 | Age 80+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7–45 days * | 3.50% | 4.00% * | n/a |
| 46–60 days | 4.00% | 4.50% | n/a |
| 61–90 days | 3.00% | 3.50% | n/a |
| 91–120 days | 3.50% | 4.00% | n/a |
| 121–179 days | 2.90% | 3.40% | n/a |
| 180–269 days | 4.50% | 5.00% | 5.25% |
| 270 days to under 1 year | 5.50% | 6.00% | 6.25% |
| 1 year exactly | 6.50% | 7.00% | 7.25% |
| Over 1 year to under 2 years, except 444 days | 6.40% | 6.90% | 7.15% |
| 444 days exactly | 6.60% | 7.10% | 7.35% |
| 2 years to under 3 years | 6.40% | 6.90% | 7.15% |
| 3 years and above | 6.10% | 6.60% | 6.85% |
* IOB Eighty Plus starts at six months, so the 80-plus uplift cannot be booked on the five rows shorter than that, marked n/a. Vardhan’s floor is 15 days, so the 7-to-14-day slice of the 7–45 row cannot carry the 60-to-79 uplift either.
The card has 14 rows; the three shortest, all at 3.50%, are collapsed here. Two rows are a single day wide: 1 year and 444 days. The 7-to-14-day row needs a minimum of ₹1 lakh. The senior schemes have floors of their own, Vardhan from 15 days and IOB Eighty Plus from six months, so on the shortest rows have the branch confirm the uplift before you book.
For orientation, IOB’s savings rate from 8 October 2026 is 2.50% on balances up to ₹1 lakh, which is not linked to the repo rate, and 2.20% from ₹1 lakh to ₹2,000 crore, set at the repo rate of 5.50% minus 3.30 points. The 121-to-179-day row beats the ₹1 lakh rate by 40 basis points, which is not much to give up access for.
The short end runs backwards
Between 46 and 179 days the card falls twice as the tenure lengthens: 46 to 60 days pays 4.00%, 61 to 90 days 3.00%, 91 to 120 days 3.50%, and 121 to 179 days 2.90%. On ₹5,00,000, 60 days earns about ₹3,290 and 90 days about ₹3,700, thirty more days for ₹410. The cliff at six months is the sharpest on the page: 179 days pays 2.90% and 180 days 4.50%, 160 basis points on one day, or about ₹4,000 on ₹5,00,000. IOB prints the 180-to-269-day row in bold, marking it as the one the 15 May revision touched, down from 4.75%.
The one-year row runs the opposite way from banks that price 366 days above 365: exactly one year pays 6.50% and one day longer pays 6.40%. Asking the form for “one year” and asking it for 366 days are different instructions, and here the first one pays more.
Where IOB’s 444-day peak sits against the other large banks is in our comparison of FD interest rates across major banks.
Nothing longer than 444 days pays more
From 444 days the card falls and never recovers: 445 days to under three years pays 6.40%, and a single row at 6.10% runs from three years to the ten-year maximum in the bank’s term deposit rules. A ten-year deposit is priced identically to a three-year one and 50 basis points below a 444-day one.
On ₹5,00,000 with quarterly compounding, 444 days at 6.60% matures at about ₹5,41,440 and 445 days at 6.40% at about ₹5,40,240; the extra day costs ₹1,200. Enter the tenure in days, not as “15 months”, which is roughly 456 days and lands in the 6.40% band.
Both uplifts are flat, so older depositors get the same shape shifted up: 7.10% falling to 6.60% for the 60-to-79 band, 7.35% to 6.85% for 80-plus. A rolling series of 444-day deposits therefore beats a single three-year deposit at today’s card, at the cost of accepting whatever rate exists on each renewal date. Which risk you would rather carry is a real decision; the card is not making it for you.
Maturity, and the day after it
Interest on IOB’s reinvestment deposit compounds quarterly and is paid at maturity; deposits under three months, or an incomplete final quarter, are paid on actual days over a 365-day year, and monthly payout is at a discounted value. The FD interest rates calculator will give the maturity value on any row.
After maturity IOB is stricter than most banks. Its term deposit rules say no interest is usually allowed after the due date except on renewal, so a deposit that matures without an instruction does not drop to the savings rate; it drops to nothing. Renewal is the recovery route: presented within 14 days, the deposit is renewed from the maturity date at the rate prevailing then; later, the overdue period earns simple interest at the maturity-date or renewal-date rate, whichever is lower, and the deposit is placed afresh at the renewal-date rate. Unclaimed for five years, it becomes inoperative and moves to unclaimed balances.
The rules let you avoid all of that with an instruction at opening for automatic renewal, for an identical period at the rate on the maturity date. Give it when you book. On the non-callable product the default is different: absent an instruction, the proceeds are credited to your operative account.
Breaking it early: the rate is rebuilt, then the charge comes off
Two documents govern this and disagree on the numbers, so take the figures from the newer one. The rate card, updated 11 September 2026, prints a foreclosure charges table: nil on retail deposits up to ₹15,000, 0.50% from ₹15,001 to ₹5 lakh, and 1.00% above ₹5 lakh and on bulk deposits. The term deposit rules, a 2007 document the bank still links as current, supply the mechanism: closure is at the bank’s discretion on a written request, interest is the rate for the period the deposit actually ran as prevailing on the date of deposit, interest already paid out is recovered, and a deposit closed before completing 15 days (seven days for ₹15 lakh and above) earns nothing.
Take ₹5,00,000 booked for 444 days at 6.60% and closed on day 200. The period served falls in the 180-to-269-day row, which pays 4.50%. Deduct the 0.50% charge and you receive 4.00%, about ₹10,960 of interest. At the contracted rate the same 200 days would have earned about ₹18,080. The gap is close to ₹7,120, and the charge accounts for only about ₹1,370 of it; the other ₹5,750 is the rebuild. Both figures use simple interest. One rupee more, ₹5,00,001, and the charge becomes 1.00%: 3.50%, or about ₹9,590.
Three rules attached to that mechanism:
- Renewal before maturity is not premature closure: interest to that date is paid at the rate for the period run, without the penalty, provided the new deposit runs longer than the remaining period of the old one.
- The senior uplift is lost on early closure above ₹5 lakh, Vardhan’s page says; IOB’s term deposit rules go further and say the additional senior interest is not payable on any premature closure, including deposits up to ₹5 lakh. Ask the branch which it applies before assuming the uplift survives.
- A deceased depositor’s deposit can be withdrawn by the heirs or nominee at the rate for the period run minus 1%.
If the cash need is temporary, compare closure with a loan against the FD: up to 90% of principal and accrued interest on the reinvestment deposit, and on Eighty Plus a demand loan at 1% over the deposit rate. Non-callable deposits carry no loan facility at all.
Seniors, the 80-plus band, and the ₹5 lakh line
| Category | Uplift over the card | Conditions the bank prints |
|---|---|---|
| Age 60 to 79, Vardhan | +0.50 percentage point | Minimum ₹5,000; 15 days to 120 months; resident deposits only |
| Age 80 and above, IOB Eighty Plus | +0.75 point in total (+0.25 over Vardhan) | 6 to 120 months; below ₹1 crore; super senior as primary holder, joint with spouse only |
| Staff and retired staff | Per the board-approved policy | Not printed on the card |
The 80-plus advantage is 25 basis points at every tenure: 7.35% against 7.10% at the peak, or about ₹1,630 on ₹5,00,000 over 444 days. How the other large banks structure the same uplift, and where an 80-plus band exists at all, is in our page on senior citizen FD rates.
Three conditions matter operationally. Vardhan is for resident senior citizens only, so the uplift does not reach non-resident deposits. Joint accounts with a younger person are allowed if the senior is the first named depositor, and age once proved is not asked for again on renewal. And there is a size test: on special deposits where the aggregate across branches exceeds ₹25 lakh, only the card rate is payable, and the depositor must declare accordingly. Neither page provides for repricing a deposit when the holder turns 60 during its term, or says whether a Hindu Undivided Family’s karta qualifies; ask rather than assume.
The Senior Citizens Savings Scheme pays 8.2% for the quarter ending 30 September 2026, sovereign, with a quarterly payout, a ₹30 lakh ceiling and entry at 60; that is 1.10 percentage points above IOB’s best rate for a depositor aged 60 to 79. Our page on SCSS against a bank FD sets out the exit rules and the ceiling arithmetic. Exhaust the scheme you qualify for first.
The schedules IOB publishes beside the main one
The non-callable retail deposit has its own column, dated 11 June 2026, when IOB raised three of its rows by ten basis points and left the callable card untouched. It pays 6.75% at 444 days, 6.70% at one year and 6.60% from over one year to under two, a premium of 15 to 20 basis points, and ten below one year. The scheme page sets the ticket at ₹1,00,01,000 to under ₹3 crore and the tenure at 91 days to under two years; the card’s footnote reads “more than Rs. 100 Crore”, which contradicts it; rely on the scheme page. On the minimum ticket the 444-day premium is worth about ₹19,450. In exchange there is no premature closure except under government, regulatory or court orders, bankruptcy or a deceased claim, no loan, and no conversion to or from the callable product.
The tax-saver deposit is priced at 6.10%, exactly the three-years-and-above rate, so IOB does not discount it. The lock-in is the whole cost: no premature closure until five years are complete, no loan, a ₹10,000 minimum and ₹1,50,000 a year ceiling, tenures of five to ten years, and the 0.50 point senior uplift stated on the scheme page. The deduction exists only under the old regime.
The green deposit runs 999 days at the two-to-under-three-year callable rate, 6.40%, which is what any ordinary 999-day deposit pays. The label changes nothing in rate; it earmarks the money for green lending, allows a loan only by converting the deposit back to an ordinary one, and starts at ₹1,000.
Bulk deposits of ₹3 crore and above sit on a separate table dated 11 September 2026 and need Treasury permission; its 7-to-45-day callable rate is 5.00%, against 3.50% retail. On bulk deposits the card adds that where a premature closure penalty waiver is sanctioned by the competent authority, the rate is 10 basis points lower than the normal rate for all tenors.
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 to you. A cumulative 444-day deposit runs past at least one 31 March, so it is taxed across two financial years and sometimes three.
IOB deducts tax at source once interest across all your deposits at the bank crosses ₹50,000 in a financial year, or ₹1,00,000 for a resident senior citizen; 10% with PAN on record and 20% without. The thresholds are bank-wide, so splitting one deposit into four at the same bank changes nothing. Where you have no tax liability at all, the nil-deduction declaration is Form 121, which replaced Forms 15G and 15H from 1 April 2026; IOB’s scheme pages still name the older forms. Both age groups need nil estimated liability and total income below the basic exemption limit. Our guide to tax on FD interest has the detail.
At 6.60% before tax, a depositor in the 30% slab keeps about 4.5% after cess. That, not 6.60%, 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. It is not ₹5 lakh per deposit, per branch or per app, and public sector ownership neither raises nor replaces it.
A ₹5,00,000 deposit at 6.60% crosses the cover almost immediately, because accrued interest counts; to keep the whole maturity value inside the limit the principal has to be capped at roughly ₹4.6 lakh, our own arithmetic on IOB’s rate and tenure with quarterly compounding, not a figure either institution states. Staying at or under ₹5 lakh has a further effect at this bank: the foreclosure charge stays at 0.50% rather than 1.00%. Vardhan’s page says a senior citizen’s uplift also survives an early closure at that size, but IOB’s term deposit rules say the additional senior interest is not payable on any premature closure, so ask before relying on it. Joint accounts, different 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 | 3.50% | 7–14 days needs ₹1 lakh; only 1.00 pp over savings |
| About two months | 46–60 days | 4.00% | 61–90 days pays 3.00%, a month longer for a point less |
| Three to four months | 91–120 days | 3.50% | 121–179 days pays 2.90%, the lowest on the card |
| Six to nine months | 180–269 days | 4.50% | 179 days pays 2.90% |
| About a year | Exactly 365 days | 6.50% | 366 days pays 6.40% |
| Fourteen to fifteen months | Exactly 444 days | 6.60% | 443 or 445 days pays 6.40% |
| Two to three years | 2 years to under 3 years | 6.40% | The 999-day green deposit pays the same |
| Three years or more | 3 years and above | 6.10% | Ten years is priced exactly like three |
Set the tenure in days, read the maturity date on the confirmation screen, give the renewal instruction at booking because an unrenewed IOB deposit earns nothing after its due date, and check that the receipt names the scheme you are entitled to, Vardhan or Eighty Plus; a deposit booked at the general rate is rarely corrected later.
Common questions
Does a longer Indian Overseas Bank deposit pay more?
No. On the retail card IOB labels as revised with effect from 15 May 2026, the general-public peak is 6.60% at exactly 444 days. Everything longer pays less: 6.40% from 445 days to under three years, and a single row at 6.10% covering three years to the ten-year maximum. A depositor who commits money for a decade earns half a percentage point less than one who commits it for about fourteen and a half months, and exactly the same as one who books three years. Longer tenure buys a fixed rate for longer, not a higher one.
Is 366 days better than 365 days at IOB?
No, and this is the reverse of several other public sector banks. IOB prices exactly one year at 6.50% and the band from over one year to under two years, apart from 444 days, at 6.40%. Add a single day to a one-year deposit and the rate drops by ten basis points. The only tenure between one and two years that pays more than 365 days is 444 days itself, at 6.60%. Book the one-year row as 365 days, not as 'one year and a bit', and read the maturity date on the confirmation screen before you accept it.
What does IOB charge for closing a fixed deposit early?
The rate card prints a foreclosure charges table: nothing on retail deposits up to ₹15,000, 0.50% on deposits from ₹15,001 to ₹5 lakh, and 1.00% above ₹5 lakh. The charge comes off a rate that has first been rebuilt to the one applicable to the period the deposit actually ran, as on the date of booking, not off the contracted rate. IOB's term deposit rules add that a deposit closed before completing 15 days (seven days for ₹15 lakh and above) earns nothing at all, and that closure is at the bank's discretion on a written request.
What does a depositor aged 80 or above get at IOB?
An extra 0.75 percentage point over the card rate, made up of the 0.50 point Vardhan uplift for senior citizens plus 0.25 point under the IOB Eighty Plus term deposit. At the 444-day peak that is 7.35% against 7.10% for a depositor aged 60 to 79, worth about ₹1,630 on ₹5,00,000 over the tenure with quarterly compounding. Eighty Plus runs from six months to 120 months, takes deposits below ₹1 crore, and the super senior citizen must be the primary holder; joint operation is with a spouse only.
Is IOB's tax-saver deposit rate lower than its ordinary five-year rate?
No. The card states the IOB Tax Saver Deposit rate as 6.10%, which is exactly the rate on the ordinary three-years-and-above row, so unlike some banks IOB does not discount the tax-saver product. What you give up is liquidity: no premature closure until the deposit completes five years, no loan against it, a ₹1,50,000 ceiling per financial year and a ₹10,000 minimum. The section 80C deduction it earns exists only under the old tax regime; under the default new regime the lock-in buys nothing.
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.
- Domestic NRO NRE Retail Term Deposit Rates — deposits below Rs. 3 crore, column headed "Revised Rates W.E.F 15.05.2026", non-callable column dated 11.06.2026, page last updated 11.09.2026
- Savings Bank Interest Rates — w.e.f. 08.10.2026
- IOB Non Callable Retail Term Deposit — features
- Tax Saver Deposit Scheme
- IOB Green Deposit Scheme
- Vardhan — Deposit of Senior Citizens
- IOB Eighty Plus — Term Deposit
- Reinvestment Deposit
- Term Deposit Rules (2007) — the PDF linked from the Term Deposits page
- Indian Overseas Bank raises rates on select fixed deposits by 10 bps, 11 June 2026
- Guide to deposit insurance
- Senior Citizens' Savings Scheme — interest rate since inception