FD Calculator
Calculate fixed deposit maturity value and interest earned. Enter principal, interest rate, tenure and compounding frequency for an instant result.
Formula last reviewed 15 September 2026 · How we verify our calculators
Maturity value
- Deposit amount
- ₹1,00,000
- Interest earned
- ₹41,478
Updates live as you type
Frequently asked questions
Through standard compound interest: M = P x (1 + r/n)^(n x t), where n is the number of compounding periods a year. Indian banks almost universally compound quarterly, so a 7% rate is applied as 1.75% every three months, and each credited amount then earns interest itself. That is why 1,00,000 at 7% for five years matures at 1,41,478 rather than the 1,35,000 simple interest would give. This calculator defaults to quarterly compounding and lets you change it.
Fully, at your income tax slab rate — there is no special or concessional rate for deposit interest. The detail that catches people out is timing: interest is taxable in the year it accrues, not the year the deposit matures. A five-year cumulative FD therefore creates a tax liability every single year even though you receive nothing until the end. Declaring it annually avoids an unpleasant lump at maturity plus interest for underpayment.
No, and assuming otherwise is a common and expensive error. Banks deduct TDS at 10% once interest crosses 50,000 in a financial year (1,00,000 for senior citizens), but TDS is an advance collection, not a final tax. If your slab rate is 20% or 30%, you owe the difference when you file your return. Conversely, if your total income is below the taxable limit, the deducted TDS comes back as a refund.
A cumulative FD retains and reinvests the interest until maturity, so compounding works across the whole tenure — this is what the calculator models. A non-cumulative FD pays the interest out monthly, quarterly or annually, so nothing compounds and total interest is lower. Neither is better in the abstract: cumulative suits money you are growing towards a goal, non-cumulative suits retirees and others who need the deposit to produce regular income.
Almost always yes, but at a cost. Banks typically apply a penalty of 0.5% to 1% and then pay interest at the rate applicable to the period the deposit actually ran, not the rate you originally contracted. Breaking a five-year deposit after fourteen months means earning roughly the fourteen-month rate, minus the penalty. The exception is a tax-saving 80C fixed deposit, which is locked for the full five years and cannot be broken at all.
Deposits are insured by the DICGC, a subsidiary of the RBI, up to 5,00,000 per depositor per bank — a limit that covers principal and interest combined and applies across all your accounts at that bank taken together. Amounts beyond that depend on the bank's own solvency. This is why chasing an extra half a percent at a small or unfamiliar bank deserves more thought than it usually gets, and why large sums are often better split across institutions.
Yes, on both sides of the equation. Most banks offer depositors aged 60 and above an extra 0.25% to 0.75%, and some run special schemes with a larger premium for longer tenures. Senior citizens also get a deduction of up to 50,000 on deposit interest under Section 80TTB in the old regime, and their TDS threshold is 1,00,000 rather than 50,000. Together these can lift the effective post-tax return meaningfully above what a younger depositor earns on the same deposit.
It does, though less dramatically than people expect. At 7% for five years on 1,00,000, annual compounding matures at 1,40,255, quarterly at 1,41,478 and monthly at 1,41,763 — a spread of about 1,500 on an identical headline rate. The gap widens with rate, tenure and amount. When a bank advertises an annualised yield higher than its stated rate, this compounding effect is precisely what it is describing.
For a goal within a few years, it is hard to beat for certainty. For a twenty-year horizon it is usually a poor choice, because the tax treatment quietly erodes the return: 7% taxed at a 30% slab leaves about 4.9% net, which is at or below typical inflation. That means the deposit's purchasing power is roughly flat even as the rupee figure grows. FDs protect the nominal value of money very reliably and its real value only marginally.
Why your FD pays more than the rate suggests
Put ₹1,00,000 into a fixed deposit at 7% for five years and you might expect ₹35,000 of interest — 7% of a lakh, five times over. You actually get ₹41,478, for a maturity of ₹1,41,478. The extra ₹6,478 comes from compounding: banks credit interest every quarter, and each credited amount starts earning interest of its own.
A fixed deposit is a contract rather than an investment. You hand a bank a sum for an agreed period, the bank fixes the rate at the moment you deposit, and that rate is yours for the full term regardless of what happens to rates afterwards. Nothing about the return is market-linked, and deposits up to ₹5,00,000 per depositor per bank are insured by the DICGC. That combination — a known return, a known date, and statutory insurance — is the entire reason FDs remain the default home for money that has a deadline.
The trade is equally clear. The rate is fixed in both directions: if rates rise, you are locked out of the improvement, and if inflation runs at 6% while your FD pays 7% before tax, the real return after tax is close to nothing. An FD protects the *nominal* value of your money reliably and its *purchasing power* only barely.
How the maturity value is built
The maturity of a cumulative FD is standard compound interest:
M = P × (1 + r/n)^(n × t)
- P — the deposit.
- r — the annual rate as a decimal, so 7% is 0.07.
- n — compounding periods per year. Indian banks almost universally use quarterly, so n = 4.
- t — the tenure in years.
The mechanism sits in the exponent. Dividing the annual rate by n gives the rate actually applied each period — 0.07 ÷ 4 = 0.0175, or 1.75% per quarter. Raising (1 + 0.0175) to the power of the total number of periods compounds each quarter's interest on top of everything credited before it.
This is why compounding frequency changes the answer even at an identical headline rate. The same ₹1,00,000 at 7% for five years matures at:
- Annually (n = 1): ₹1,40,255
- Quarterly (n = 4): ₹1,41,478
- Monthly (n = 12): ₹1,41,763
A spread of about ₹1,500 on the same advertised rate. When a bank quotes an "annualised yield" above its stated rate, this is the gap being described.
A five-year deposit, quarter by quarter
P = 1,00,000, r = 0.07, n = 4, t = 5 — so twenty quarters at 1.75%.
Quarter 1. Interest = 1,00,000 × 0.0175 = ₹1,750. Balance: ₹1,01,750.
Quarter 2. Interest = 1,01,750 × 0.0175 = ₹1,781. Balance: ₹1,03,531. The extra ₹31 is interest on the first quarter's interest — small, but it is the whole effect in miniature.
Quarter 8 (end of year two). The balance has reached about ₹1,14,888 and each quarter is now adding roughly ₹2,010.
Quarter 20. The final credit is about ₹2,434, and the deposit matures at ₹1,41,478.
Compressed into the formula: (1.0175)²⁰ = 1.41478, and 1,00,000 × 1.41478 = ₹1,41,478. Interest earned: ₹41,478.
Now apply tax, because the headline figure is pre-tax. At a 30% slab, ₹41,478 of interest costs about ₹12,940 in tax, leaving roughly ₹28,538 — an effective post-tax return closer to 5.1% a year than 7%. If inflation over those five years averaged 6%, the deposit lost purchasing power despite never losing a rupee.
Who an FD genuinely suits
Money with a date attached. A school fee due in eighteen months, a down payment two years out, a wedding next winter. The certainty is the product.
An emergency fund, particularly split across several deposits so you can break one without disturbing the rest.
Senior citizens, who typically get 0.25–0.75% above the standard rate and, under the old regime, a deduction of up to ₹50,000 on interest under Section 80TTB.
Anyone whose slab rate is low. The tax treatment is what usually ruins FD returns; at 5% or nil, an FD is far more competitive than it is at 30%.
It suits long-horizon wealth building poorly. Over fifteen or twenty years, a post-tax return that trails inflation compounds into a large shortfall against the same money in an inflation-beating asset. The safety that makes an FD ideal for a two-year goal is what makes it expensive for a twenty-year one.
What the result is and is not telling you
The maturity value assumes you leave the deposit untouched for the full term and that interest is reinvested rather than paid out. That describes a cumulative FD. A non-cumulative deposit pays interest to your account monthly or quarterly, so nothing compounds and the total interest is lower — it is a different product for a different purpose, namely income rather than growth.
The interest earned figure is entirely pre-tax. FD interest is taxed at your slab rate, not at any special rate, and — importantly — it is taxable as it accrues each year, not when the deposit matures. Banks deduct TDS at 10% once interest crosses ₹50,000 in a year for ordinary depositors (₹1,00,000 for senior citizens), and TDS is not the final liability: if your slab is 30%, you owe the balance when you file.
The most useful comparison to make with your result is against the inflation rate you actually expect. A 7% deposit taxed at 30% yields about 4.9% net. That is the number to weigh against rising costs, not the 7% on the poster.
Common and costly mistakes
Believing interest is taxed only at maturity. It accrues annually and should be declared annually. People who ignore a five-year deposit until it matures often face a large, avoidable bill and interest for underpayment.
Assuming TDS settles the tax. TDS is 10%; your slab may be 30%. The gap is yours to pay.
Filing Form 15G or 15H when not eligible. These are declarations that your total income is below the taxable limit. Filing one when it is not is a false declaration, and it does not make the interest untaxed.
Putting an emergency fund in one large deposit. Breaking it early forfeits a penalty — typically 0.5–1% — on the *whole* amount. Several smaller deposits let you break only what you need.
Chasing small rate differences at unfamiliar banks. DICGC insurance covers ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank across all accounts. Beyond that, an extra 0.5% is not obviously worth the credit risk.
Mistaking a tax-saving FD for an ordinary one. The five-year 80C variant is locked for the full term — no premature withdrawal, no loan against it — and its interest is still fully taxable.
Auto-renewing without checking. Many deposits roll over automatically at whatever rate prevails on the maturity date, which may be well below what you could get by shopping around that week.
Laddering, and why almost nobody does it. Locking a large sum into one five-year deposit means committing entirely to today's rate. Splitting it across deposits maturing in one, two, three, four and five years — a ladder — means one tranche matures every year and can be redeployed at whatever rates then prevail, while the rest continues at the older rate. You give up a little yield relative to a single long deposit in a falling-rate environment and gain a great deal of flexibility in a rising one. For sums above a few lakh with no fixed deadline, it is usually the better structure.