Savings
SBI RD interest rates: the FD rate by another name, and what the instalment rules cost
SBI pays its FD rate on an RD: 6.40% for 24 to 35 months, 6.90% for seniors. The ₹1.50-per-₹100 late fee, the closure penalty and what ₹5,000 a month becomes.
State Bank of India pays the same rate on a recurring deposit as on a fixed deposit of the same tenure, and its RD page says so in one line rather than printing a schedule. Read against the term-deposit card effective 15 December 2025, that makes the best RD rate 6.40% for the general public on any term from 24 to 35 months, with 6.90% for depositors aged 60 and above; a 12-to-23-month RD earns 6.25%, a 36-to-59-month RD 6.30%, and anything from five to ten years 6.05%. There is no 80-plus band on an RD, and no RD equivalent of the 444-day Amrit Vrishti special tenor.
Rates below are read from SBI’s own pages on 10 September 2026 — the RD page is stamped last updated 30 April 2026, the card 16 June 2026 — and apply to resident domestic deposits below ₹3 crore. Confirm the rate on the booking screen; the effective date on the card is what controls.
The RD rate is the FD rate, bucket for bucket
SBI’s recurring deposit page publishes no rate table. Its whole statement on pricing is one sentence: “Rate of Interest as applicable to Term Deposits for Public and Senior Citizens.” The card it points to is the retail domestic term-deposit schedule, and because an RD runs from 12 to 120 months, only the four longest buckets on that card can apply.
| RD term | Card bucket | General | Age 60 and above |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 to 23 months | 1 year to under 2 years | 6.25% | 6.75% |
| 24 to 35 months | 2 years to under 3 years | 6.40% | 6.90% |
| 36 to 59 months | 3 years to under 5 years | 6.30% | 6.80% |
| 60 to 120 months | 5 years to 10 years | 6.05% | 7.05% (see below) |
SBI prints two columns, public and senior citizen, and so does this page: the SBI Patrons uplift for depositors aged 80 and above is excluded from recurring deposits by the deposit-rates page. The 7.05% on the last row is the card’s printed senior rate for five to ten years, footnoted as including 50 basis points under SBI We-care; whether that reaches an RD is taken up below.
The peak sits at 24 to 35 months and every longer term pays less; a ten-year RD earns 35 basis points under a two-year one. For orientation, SBI’s savings rate is 2.50% a year across all balances, effective 15 June 2025, which is what an instalment earns while it waits in the linked account.
The 444-day rate is not on the RD menu
The 6.45% Amrit Vrishti rate that leads SBI’s FD card is a term-deposit tenor of exactly 444 days. The RD page states the period of deposit as “Minimum - 12 months, Maximum - 120 months” — a whole-month scale that 444 days does not fit — and prints no special tenor of its own, so an RD booked for 14 or 15 months earns 6.25%. How the special tenor works on a lump sum is in our page on SBI FD interest rates.
What ₹5,000 a month becomes
| Term | Rate | Paid in | Maturity | Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months | 6.25% | ₹60,000 | ₹62,060 | ₹2,060 |
| 24 months | 6.40% | ₹1,20,000 | ₹1,28,291 | ₹8,291 |
| 36 months | 6.30% | ₹1,80,000 | ₹1,98,500 | ₹18,500 |
| 60 months | 6.05% | ₹3,00,000 | ₹3,50,778 | ₹50,778 |
| 120 months | 6.05% | ₹6,00,000 | ₹8,24,391 | ₹2,24,391 |
These are our own figures: quarterly compounding on each instalment from the month it is paid, simple interest inside a quarter — the convention Indian banks use. SBI’s RD page prints no compounding rule; its Policy on Depositors’ Rights, April 2026 edition, calculates term-deposit interest at quarterly intervals over a 365-day year and groups recurring deposits with its reinvestment deposits, paid on the maturity value. SBI’s own calculator may differ by a few rupees on the intra-quarter convention. Run your own instalment and term through the RD calculator.
The instalment mechanics
The minimum instalment is ₹100 a month, and above that any multiple of ₹10. No maximum is published, though the closure penalty and deposit insurance both turn on ₹5 lakh. The account is available at all branches and transferable between them, nomination is available in favour of an individual only, and a universal passbook is issued.
SBI asks for the maturity instruction at opening or at any time during the term — credit to a savings or current account, an instrument, or a roll into a Special Term Deposit, its cumulative FD — and sends an SMS before maturity asking for it. Give it at opening: the policy’s rule for proceeds that go unclaimed is the savings rate or the contracted rate, whichever is lower, a fall from 6.40% to 2.50% the day after maturity.
The page does not say whether the instalment can be changed after opening; the usual practice is that it cannot.
Missing an instalment: ₹1.50 per ₹100 per month
This is the number that separates an RD from an FD. SBI charges ₹1.50 for every ₹100 of the instalment for each month it is late on an RD of five years or less, and ₹2.00 per ₹100 per month on a longer one. On a ₹5,000 instalment that is ₹75 a month, or ₹100 on a long RD; three months late is ₹225.
At 6.40%, ₹5,000 makes about ₹27 of interest in a month, so one month’s delay costs nearly three months of that instalment’s interest; the fee runs at an annualised 18% on the missed amount — 24% on an RD over five years — against a deposit earning 6.40%. Three rules sit alongside it:
- The penalty cannot exceed the interest paid on the account, and it is deducted from the maturity amount rather than demanded up front.
- A ₹10 service charge is levied at payout where three or more consecutive instalments were missed and the account was never regularised.
- Six consecutive missed instalments close the account. The RD page says the balance is paid to the account holder; the April 2026 policy says paid or transferred to the linked savings account. The closure rules below then apply.
Paying early does not help: the Har Ghar Lakhpati page states that advance payment of an instalment does not change the maturity value, while delayed payment leads to a deduction from it. Put a standing instruction on the linked account, dated a few days after salary.
Breaking it early: the rate is rebuilt, then half a point or a whole one comes off
Premature closure follows the FD rule; the policy says the same instructions for premature withdrawal apply to recurring deposits. The RD page sets the penalty at 0.50% where the principal paid in is up to ₹5 lakh and 1% above it, all tenors: the rate becomes 0.50% or 1% below the rate that applied, on the date of opening, to the period the deposit actually stayed — or, as the Har Ghar Lakhpati page adds, the same deduction from the contracted rate, whichever is lower. Nothing is paid on a deposit that stays under seven days.
Take ₹5,000 a month booked for 24 months at 6.40% and closed after the twelfth instalment. Twelve months falls in the 1-to-under-2-year bucket, which paid 6.25% on the opening date; less 0.50% that is 5.75%, lower than 5.90%. On the same quarterly-compounding method as the table above, the twelve instalments have earned about ₹1,893 against roughly ₹2,110 at the contracted rate. The gap is ₹217: ₹167 of it is the penalty and only ₹50 the rebuild, because the two buckets are fifteen basis points apart. An RD closed early loses proportionately less than an FD, because most of the money has not been in the account long.
On the death of the depositor before maturity, interest is paid at the rate for the run period without penalty. Closure to reinvest in a longer SBI deposit is permitted at the rate on the date of renewal, though the policy says the bank “may” levy the penalty. And a loan is the alternative: SBI’s loan-against-deposit page names recurring deposits among eligible securities, at a branch only, for up to 90% of the deposit value at 1% over the deposit rate, with no processing charge and no prepayment penalty. After twelve instalments the RD above stands at about ₹62,100 and can carry roughly ₹55,900 at 7.40%. The trade-offs are in our page on a loan against an FD.
Seniors, and why the 80-plus band stops at the FD
| Category | On an SBI RD |
|---|---|
| Age 60 and above, 12 to 59 months | +50 basis points over the general rate |
| Age 60 and above, 60 to 120 months | Card prints 7.05%, footnoted as including 50 bps under SBI We-care; RD applicability not stated |
| Age 80 and above (SBI Patrons, +10 bps) | Not applicable to recurring deposits |
The RD page ties senior pricing to the card in the same sentence as the public rate, so the 50-basis-point senior benefit carries over: 6.90% on 24 to 35 months, about ₹673 on ₹5,000 a month over two years. The Patrons uplift does not: the deposit-rates page names recurring deposits in the scheme’s exclusion list, and the Patrons page itself limits the scheme to callable TDR and STDR, so a depositor aged 80 earns exactly what one aged 60 does on an RD.
The unresolved row is the long one. The card’s 7.05% for five to ten years is a senior rate with a second 50-point premium built in, and neither the card nor the RD page says whether an RD of 60 months or more receives it. On ₹5,000 a month over five years the difference between 6.55% and 7.05% is roughly ₹4,700, so a senior planning a long RD should have the rate confirmed on the deposit advice, not a screen.
A senior with a lump sum rather than a monthly surplus is in the wrong product: 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 age 60 as the test. For monthly money the comparison is the Post Office RD at 6.7% for the same quarter — the rate notified for accounts opened between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2026, on the National Savings Institute’s own table — one rate for every age, fixed five-year term. Against SBI’s 6.05% for five years, ₹5,000 a month becomes about ₹3,56,800 at the post office and ₹3,50,800 at SBI; only if We-care reaches the RD does SBI’s senior rate overtake it. The scheme’s rules are in our page on the Post Office RD interest rate, and the whole family in post office savings schemes.
Har Ghar Lakhpati: SBI’s goal-based RD
SBI’s one RD variant works backwards from a maturity amount. Har Ghar Lakhpati fixes a pre-calculated instalment so that the deposit matures at ₹1 lakh or a multiple of it over three to ten years — the page prints ₹2,510 a month for three years, ₹1,420 for five and ₹610 for ten, for the general public. Any resident individual can open one, and a minor above ten who can sign legibly can open one alone. Partial payment of an instalment is allowed, the maturity value is paid one month after the last instalment or on expiry of the term, whichever is later, and the default penalty, service charge and six-instalment closure match the standard product.
The rate table needs care. Table B prints 6.55% for three and four years and 6.30% for five to ten (7.05% and 6.80% for seniors), and the page was last updated on 11 November 2025 — before the 15 December 2025 card revision, which prices three to under five years at 6.30% and five to ten at 6.05%. The page says the instalments were calculated on the existing rate and are subject to change with it; take the booking rate from the deposit advice.
Tax takes the next bite
RD 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 out. A 24-month RD runs past at least one 31 March, so it is taxed across two financial years and often three.
Tax is deducted at source on RD interest exactly as on FD interest, and has been since 1 June 2015; the claim that RDs escape TDS is a decade out of date. SBI deducts once interest across all your term deposits at the bank — fixed and recurring together — crosses ₹50,000 in a financial year, or ₹1,00,000 for a resident senior citizen, at 10% with PAN on record and 20% without. Savings-account interest is taxable at your slab rate but carries no TDS. Where you have no tax liability at all, the declaration is Form 121, which replaced Forms 15G and 15H from 1 April 2026; SBI’s April 2026 policy still names the old forms, so expect the branch to. Both age groups must have nil estimated liability and total income below the basic exemption limit; our guide to tax on FD interest sets out the test and the accrual rule.
At 6.40% before tax, a depositor in the 30% slab keeps about 4.4% after cess, and one in the 20% slab about 5.1%. Those are the numbers to compare with anything else.
Insurance stops at ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank
Deposit insurance covers principal and accrued interest up to ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank, in the same right and capacity, after lawful set-off. An RD balance sits inside the same ₹5 lakh as every FD and savings balance you hold at SBI; it is not a separate cover.
A long RD walks into the limit on its own: ₹5,000 a month for ten years at 6.05% pays in ₹6,00,000 and matures at about ₹8,24,391, so keeping a ten-year SBI RD fully insured at maturity means an instalment of around ₹3,000 — our arithmetic on SBI’s rate and term, not a figure either institution states. A five-year RD at ₹5,000 a month matures near ₹3,50,800 and stays inside, provided nothing else at the bank pushes the total over. Joint accounts, capacities and claim timing are in our page on DICGC deposit insurance.
Before you book
| If you can commit for | The term that fits | General rate | The trap next to it |
|---|---|---|---|
| A year | 12 to 23 months | 6.25% | 24 months pays 6.40% for one more year of instalments |
| Two to three years | 24 to 35 months | 6.40% | 36 months drops to 6.30% |
| Three to five years | 36 to 59 months | 6.30% | 60 months drops to 6.05% |
| Five years or more | 60 to 120 months | 6.05% | Worst-paid term for the public, and past 60 months the late fee rises to ₹2 per ₹100 |
| A goal of ₹1 lakh or a multiple | Har Ghar Lakhpati, 3 to 10 years | Card rate | The page’s Table B predates the current card |
Set the term in months and read the maturity date on the confirmation, give the maturity instruction at opening, and check the customer category printed on the advice — a senior booked at the general rate is corrected by the bank noticing, not by the rate page. Keep the advice: a dated document from SBI outranks any rate page, including this one. How SBI’s card compares with the other large banks is in our comparison of FD interest rates across major banks.
Common questions
Is the SBI RD interest rate the same as the FD rate?
Yes. SBI's recurring deposit page publishes no rate table of its own; its one line on the subject reads "Rate of Interest as applicable to Term Deposits for Public and Senior Citizens." So an RD booked for 24 to 35 months earns the card's 2-to-under-3-year rate of 6.40% (6.90% for a senior citizen), a 12-to-23-month RD earns 6.25%, and a 60-to-120-month RD earns 6.05%. The card in force is the one revised on 15 December 2025. The one thing an RD cannot reach is the 444-day Amrit Vrishti special tenor, because SBI books recurring deposits in whole months.
What is the penalty for missing an SBI RD instalment?
₹1.50 for every ₹100 of the instalment for each month it is late on an RD of five years or less, and ₹2.00 per ₹100 per month on a longer one. On a ₹5,000 instalment that is ₹75 a month, against roughly ₹27 of interest the same instalment earns in a month at 6.40%. SBI caps the total penalty at the interest paid on the account, adds a ₹10 service charge at payout where three or more consecutive instalments were missed and never regularised, and closes the account and pays out the balance once six consecutive instalments are missed.
Can I open an SBI RD at the 444-day Amrit Vrishti rate?
Not on anything SBI publishes. Amrit Vrishti is a term-deposit tenor of exactly 444 days, listed on the deposit-rates page as a note against the fixed-deposit card. The recurring deposit page states the period of deposit as a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 120 months, which is a whole-month scale that 444 days does not fit, and it prints no special tenor of its own. An RD booked for 14 months earns the 1-to-under-2-year rate of 6.25%; for 15 months, the same. If a branch offers otherwise, get the rate on the deposit advice before you rely on it.
Do depositors aged 80 and above get extra on an SBI RD?
No. The SBI Patrons scheme, which adds 10 basis points over the senior-citizen rate for depositors aged 80 and above, applies to callable term deposits in TDR and STDR form only; the deposit-rates page names recurring deposits in the scheme's exclusion list, and the Patrons page itself limits the scheme to callable TDR and STDR. An 80-year-old therefore earns the ordinary senior rate on an RD — 6.90% for 24 to 35 months — the same as a 60-year-old. Whether the separate 50-basis-point We-care premium on the five-to-ten-year senior row reaches an RD is not stated on either page; have it confirmed before booking a long senior RD.
Is TDS deducted on SBI recurring deposit interest?
Yes, and it has been since 1 June 2015; the older claim that recurring deposits escape TDS is wrong. SBI deducts tax once interest across all your term deposits at the bank — fixed and recurring together — crosses ₹50,000 in a financial year, or ₹1,00,000 for a resident senior citizen, at 10% with PAN on record and 20% without. Savings-account interest is taxable at your slab rate but carries no TDS. Where your estimated tax liability is nil and total income is below the basic exemption limit, the declaration is Form 121, which replaced Forms 15G and 15H from 1 April 2026. The interest is taxable at your slab rate in the year it accrues, whether or not TDS applied.
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 — features, penalty on delayed instalments, premature closure and the line “Rate of Interest as applicable to Term Deposits for Public and Senior Citizens”, last updated 30-04-2026
- Interest Rates on Retail Domestic Term Deposits (below ₹3 crore), revised w.e.f. 15/12/2025 — page last updated 16-06-2026
- Interest Rates on Savings Bank Deposits w.e.f. 15.06.2025
- SBI Patrons: Term Deposit Scheme for Super Senior Citizens — applicable to callable TDR/STDR only, last updated 02-12-2025
- Har Ghar Lakhpati (New Variant of Recurring Deposit Scheme) — features, Table A instalments and Table B rates, last updated 11-11-2025
- Loan Against Time Deposit — eligibility (TDR/STDR/RD), margins, rate and channels, last updated 17-10-2025
- Policy on Depositors' Rights, Version 7.0, issue date 01.04.2026 — sections 21 to 24 on interest, premature withdrawal (including recurring deposits), premature renewal and advances against deposits
- Guide to deposit insurance
- Interest Rate on National Savings Schemes — quarterly table (5 Year Recurring Deposit 6.7, 5 Year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme 8.2)
- National Savings Recurring Deposit Account Scheme — rate since inception, final row 1.10.2023 to 30.09.2026 at 6.7%
- Income Tax Department e-Filing portal