Savings
Punjab National Bank FD rates: the buckets that actually pay
PNB pays 6.60% on exactly one tenure — 444 days — and less on every longer one. The senior and 80-plus bands, the closure penalty and what the peak costs.
Punjab National Bank’s retail term-deposit schedule, effective 1 June 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 7.40% for those aged 80 and above. Every bucket longer than 444 days pays less, falling to 6.00% at the ten-year end. The schedule is not a curve you can round to the nearest month; it is a comb of 23 buckets, six of them written as a single day.
Rates below are read from PNB’s own deposit page on 3 September 2026 and apply to resident domestic term deposits below ₹3 crore. Confirm the rate on the booking screen; the effective date on PNB’s page is what controls.
The buckets that actually pay
| Tenure | General | Age 60–79 | Age 80+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7–45 days | 3.00% | 3.50% | 3.80% |
| 46–90 days | 4.50% | 5.00% | 5.30% |
| 91–154 days | 4.90% | 5.40% | 5.70% |
| 155 days exactly | 5.55% | 6.05% | 6.35% |
| 156–179 days | 4.90% | 5.40% | 5.70% |
| 180 days to under 1 year | 5.60% | 6.10% | 6.40% |
| 303 days exactly | 5.55% | 6.05% | 6.35% |
| 1 year exactly | 6.25% | 6.75% | 7.05% |
| Over 1 year to 443 days | 6.30% | 6.80% | 7.10% |
| 444 days exactly | 6.60% | 7.10% | 7.40% |
| 445–665 days | 6.30% | 6.80% | 7.10% |
| 666 days exactly | 6.50% | 7.00% | 7.30% |
| 667 days to 3 years | 6.30% | 6.80% | 7.10% |
| Over 3 years to 1,203 days | 6.35% | 6.85% | 7.15% |
| 1,204 days exactly | 6.30% | 6.80% | 7.10% |
| 1,205 days to 5 years | 6.35% | 6.85% | 7.15% |
| Over 5 years to 10 years | 6.00% | 6.80% | 6.80% |
Adjacent rows that PNB prices identically are collapsed here; the schedule itself prints 23, six of them exactly one day wide.
For orientation, PNB’s savings rate is 2.50% a year on balances up to ₹100 crore, effective 1 October 2025. That is why the shortest deposits are barely worth booking: a 7-to-45-day FD pays half a percentage point more than a savings balance and takes away your access to the money.
One extra day can be worth 65 basis points
Five of the six single-day rows change the outcome. A 155-day deposit pays 5.55%; at 154 or 156 days the rate is 4.90% — sixty-five basis points turning on one day in either direction. The same cliff sits at 444 and 666 days. At 303 and 1,204 days it runs the other way: both pay less than the days on either side of them. The sixth, 390 days, is priced exactly like the band around it and does nothing at all.
The one-year row is the version most people walk into. Exactly 365 days pays 6.25%, while 366 days pays 6.30%. Asking a form for “one year” and asking it for 366 days are different instructions, and the second one pays more.
PNB’s note under the schedule attributes two buckets — 1,204 days and 1,895 days — to its Palaash scheme, commemorating the bank’s foundation on 12 April 1895; the numbers read as the date itself. Only one of them is a row here. There is no 1,895-day bucket in the below-₹3-crore schedule at all: it exists only in the tax-saver table, where the 1 February 2026 revision lifted it from 5.85% to 6.00%, level with the buckets on either side. The 1,204-day row got no such correction, and PNB publishes no reason for pricing a commemorative bucket below its neighbours.
One bank’s comb is not another’s, and the special tenors rarely line up. PNB’s peak sits beside six other banks, each with its own effective date, in our comparison of FD interest rates across major banks.
Nothing longer than 444 days pays more
The usual assumption is that a bank pays you to wait. PNB currently does not, beyond fourteen and a half months.
From 444 days the schedule falls and does not recover. The 666-day step back up to 6.50% is the only bump, and it is still ten basis points under the peak. Otherwise it is 6.30% out to three years, 6.35% from there to five, and 6.00% from just over five years to ten — sixty basis points below the 444-day rate. A ten-year deposit is the worst-paid commitment on the entire general-public schedule.
Older depositors get a softer version of the same shape, not a reversal: the 60-to-79 band falls only 30 points from peak to ten-year, because its uplift rises from 50 to 80 basis points above five years. The 80-plus band, flat at 80 everywhere, takes the whole 60.
A rolling series of 444-day deposits therefore pays more over five years than one five-year deposit at today’s schedule — at the cost of accepting whatever rate exists on each renewal date. Which of those risks you would rather carry is a real decision; the schedule is not making it for you.
Maturity, and the day after it
444 days is close enough to “a year” that it gets booked for money needed in twelve. Pick the bucket that matures before you need the cash rather than the one nearest the rate you want; the FD interest rates calculator will give the maturity value on either. PNB pays interest at rests no longer than quarterly on a 365-day year, and works out any deposit under three months, or an incomplete final quarter, on actual days.
The renewal end matters more than most comparisons admit. PNB’s deposit policy provides that where a term deposit matures and the proceeds go unclaimed, the amount attracts the savings account rate or the contracted rate on the matured deposit, whichever is lower. On a 444-day deposit that is a fall from 6.60% to 2.50% on the day after maturity. Give the maturity instruction when you book, not afterwards.
Breaking it early: the rate is rebuilt, then one percentage point comes off
PNB’s policy is unusually explicit about this. On premature closure or part withdrawal, the interest payable is the rate applicable to the amount and the period for which the deposit actually remained with the bank, minus 1% — not the contracted rate. Where the policy spells the timing out, on a premature renewal or a conversion, the rate used is the one applicable on the date of deposit for that shorter period.
Take a ₹5,00,000 deposit booked for 444 days at 6.60% and closed on day 200. The period actually served falls in the 180-to-270-day band, which pays 5.60%. Deduct the 1% penalty and you receive 4.60%, giving roughly ₹12,600 of interest. Had the deposit run its course at the contracted rate, the same 200 days would have earned about ₹18,100. The gap is close to ₹5,500, and the 1% penalty accounts for only about half of it. The rest is the rebuild, which no one advertises. Both figures use simple interest; quarterly compounding lifts each a little and does not change the comparison.
Four rules attached to that mechanism are worth knowing before you book:
- No interest at all is payable where the deposit is closed before the minimum period, presently seven days.
- No penalty applies where the deposit is closed in order to reinvest into another PNB term deposit, provided the new deposit runs longer than the remaining period of the original.
- Staff members and senior citizens are exempt from the 1% levy, other than deposits accepted on a differential rate of interest basis. A closure following the depositor’s death is exempt too, even inside a lock-in. In the example above, a senior citizen would receive 6.10% rather than 5.10% for the 200 days — about ₹2,700 more. PNB defines “differential rate of interest” neither on the rate page nor in the closure section of the policy, so ask the branch what it covers before relying on the exemption.
- Waiver of the penalty in other cases is a delegated power exercised case by case, not a customer right.
For deposits below ₹3 crore PNB’s policy states that premature withdrawal shall be allowed on request. That is the callable schedule. If the cash need is temporary rather than permanent, compare closing the deposit with a loan against the FD, which keeps the deposit and its contracted rate alive while charging a spread over it.
Seniors, and the 80-plus band
PNB publishes three columns, not two.
| Category | Uplift over the card rate |
|---|---|
| Age 60 to under 80, tenure up to 5 years | +50 basis points |
| Age 60 to under 80, tenure over 5 years | +80 basis points |
| Age 80 and above, all maturity buckets | +80 basis points |
| Retired staff who are senior citizens | up to +150 bps to 5 years, +180 bps beyond |
| Retired staff who are super senior citizens | up to +180 basis points, all buckets |
The shape of the benefit is easy to miss. Up to five years, being 80 or above is worth an extra 30 basis points over an ordinary senior — 7.40% against 7.10% at the peak, or about ₹1,800 on ₹5,00,000 held for 444 days. Beyond five years it is worth nothing at all, because the ordinary senior uplift has already risen to 80 basis points. Both bands show 6.80% on the five-to-ten-year row. 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 eligibility points matter operationally. The uplift does not apply to NRO deposits. It is also not paid on a deposit standing in the name of the karta of a Hindu Undivided Family, even where the karta is himself a resident senior citizen. And turning 60 during the deposit does not reprice it: PNB’s policy allows the preferential rate on renewal, extension or split of the term deposit, which leaves the running contract on the rate it was booked at. The bank does convert a fully KYC-compliant account into a senior citizen account automatically from the date of birth on its records — but that is the account, not the deposit.
None of this makes a PNB senior deposit the best home for retirement money. The Senior Citizens Savings Scheme pays 8.2% for the quarter ending 30 September 2026, with sovereign backing and a quarterly payout — more than a full percentage point above PNB’s best rate for a depositor aged 60 to 79, subject to its own ceiling, eligibility test and exit rules, and to a fresh notification each quarter. Exhaust the scheme you qualify for first.
The two schedules PNB publishes separately
Both sit on the same page as the main table.
PNB Uttam, the non-callable deposit, runs exactly 10 basis points above the callable schedule at every one of the 20 buckets it publishes — 6.70% against 6.60% at 444 days — and its shortest bucket starts at 91 days rather than seven. It takes deposits above ₹1 crore to under ₹3 crore. So the premium for surrendering all early access is ten basis points, worth about ₹12,000 on ₹1 crore over 444 days, and the product is out of reach below that ticket anyway.
The tax-saver deposit carries its own dated schedule, effective 1 February 2026, and pays less than the ordinary product: 6.10% at five years for the general public against 6.35% on the comparable ordinary bucket. Alongside the lower rate you accept a five-year statutory lock-in with no premature withdrawal and no loan against the deposit. The only compensation is the deduction, which the new regime — now the default — does not offer. The published tax-saver table also shows columns only for the public, senior citizens, staff and retired staff. Whether the 80-basis-point super-senior uplift reaches this product is not resolved anywhere on the page, so an 80-plus depositor should have it confirmed at the branch rather than assume it carries across.
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.
PNB 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% where PAN is on record and 20% where it is not. Those thresholds apply bank-wide, not per branch and not per deposit, so splitting one deposit into four at the same bank changes nothing.
Where you have no tax liability at all, PNB’s policy is that no TDS is deducted from depositors who furnish the declaration in Form 121 — which replaced Forms 15G and 15H from 1 April 2026 — and that an acknowledgment is issued on receipt. The eligibility test is stricter than commonly assumed, and TDS is only an advance credit, not a settlement. Our guide to tax on FD interest sets out the thresholds, the declaration conditions and the accrual rule in full.
At 6.60% before tax, a depositor in the 30% slab keeps about 4.5% after cess. That number, not 6.60%, is what should be compared with anything else you are considering.
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.
That interacts directly with the 444-day peak. 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 PNB’s published rate and tenure, not a figure either institution states. And every savings balance, recurring deposit and other FD you hold at PNB is aggregated into the same ₹5 lakh, so a ladder built entirely at one bank buys liquidity, not extra insurance.
Joint accounts, different capacities and claim timing are covered 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 | 3.00% | Only 0.50 pp over the savings rate, and you lose access |
| About three months | 91–154 days | 4.90% | 46–90 days pays 4.50% |
| About five months | Exactly 155 days | 5.55% | 154 or 156 days pays 4.90% |
| About a year | 366 to 443 days | 6.30% | Exactly 365 days pays 6.25% |
| Fourteen to fifteen months | Exactly 444 days | 6.60% | 443 or 445 days pays 6.30% |
| Just under two years | Exactly 666 days | 6.50% | 665 or 667 days pays 6.30% |
| Three to five years | Over 3 years to 5 years | 6.35% | 1,204 days alone pays 6.30% |
| More than five years | Over 5 to 10 years | 6.00% | The longest commitment is the worst paid |
Set the tenure in days, read the maturity date on the confirmation screen, give the maturity instruction at booking, and check the customer category printed on the receipt — a deposit booked at the general rate by someone entitled to the 80-plus band is not usually corrected by the bank noticing later.
Common questions
Does a longer PNB deposit always pay more?
No, and at present it is close to the reverse. On the schedule effective 1 June 2026 the general-public peak is 6.60% at 444 days, and every bucket longer than that pays less — 6.30% to 6.35% through the two-to-five-year range, and 6.00% from just over five years to ten years. A depositor who locks money for a decade earns 0.60 percentage point less than one who commits it for about fourteen and a half months. Longer tenure buys a fixed rate for longer, not a higher one.
Can I get the 444-day rate on a 15-month deposit?
No. The 6.60% bucket is exactly 444 days wide. Book 443 days or 445 days and the rate falls to 6.30%, because both sit inside neighbouring bands that PNB prices identically. Fifteen calendar months is roughly 456 days, which lands in the 445-to-665-day band. On ₹5,00,000 held for that period, the 0.30 percentage point costs about ₹1,900 in interest. Enter the tenure in days on the booking screen rather than months, and check the maturity date before confirming.
Is the premature closure penalty always 1%?
Usually, but not for everyone. PNB's deposit policy sets a 1% penal charge on premature closure or part withdrawal across all tenors, and separately exempts staff members and senior citizens — other than deposits accepted on a differential rate of interest basis — from that levy, along with closures following the depositor's death. The exemption removes the 1%; it does not restore the contracted rate. The rate is still rebuilt to the one applicable to the period the money actually stayed.
What does a depositor aged 80 or above actually get?
PNB adds 80 basis points over the card rate across all maturity buckets for super senior citizens aged 80 and above, against 50 basis points for depositors aged 60 to 79 on tenures up to five years. So the 80-plus band is worth an extra 0.30 percentage point — 7.40% against 7.10% at the 444-day peak. Above five years the ordinary senior uplift also rises to 80 basis points, and the super-senior advantage disappears entirely: both bands show 6.80%.
Is the PNB five-year tax-saver FD the same rate as an ordinary five-year deposit?
No. The tax-saver schedule is published separately and dated separately, with effect from 1 February 2026, and its five-year general rate is 6.10% against 6.35% on the ordinary 1,205-day-to-five-year bucket. You accept 0.25 percentage point less, a statutory five-year lock-in, no premature withdrawal and no loan against the deposit. The only thing bought with that is the deduction, which does not exist under the new tax regime — now the default.
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.
- Interest Rates — Deposit (domestic term deposits below ₹3 crore, revised w.e.f. 01.06.2026)
- Policy of the Bank for Domestic Resident Rupee Deposits — the landing page for the “Policy on Domestic Resident Rupee Deposit and Other Liabilities” PDF, last updated 27.03.2026
- Guide to deposit insurance
- Small savings schemes — interest rates
- Income Tax Department e-Filing portal