RD Calculator

A recurring deposit (RD) is a fixed monthly deposit with a bank or the Post Office: you put in the same amount every month for a fixed tenure, and at maturity you get all your deposits back plus interest. Banks accept from ₹100 a month for 6 months to 10 years; the Post Office RD takes ₹100 and more in multiples of ₹10 for a fixed 5 years. Unlike a savings account, you cannot skip months freely — a missed instalment usually draws a small penalty — but the return is fixed, and bank deposits are insured up to ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank by DICGC.

Each monthly instalment compounds quarterly from the month it is paid in: M = Σ D × (1 + r ÷ 400)^((N − k + 1) ÷ 3), where D is the monthly deposit, r the yearly rate, N the number of instalments and k each instalment in turn. At 6.7%, ₹5,000 a month for 5 years becomes ₹3,56,829: ₹3,00,000 deposited plus ₹56,829 of interest — an 18.94% total return. The first instalment earns for 60 months, the last for one month, which is why the total return is lower than five years of the headline rate.

An FD takes one lump sum on day one, so the whole amount earns interest for the full tenure. An RD takes the same total in monthly instalments, so only the first instalment earns for the full tenure — ₹3,00,000 in an FD at 7% for 5 years grows to ₹4,24,433, while ₹5,000 a month in an RD at the same rate grows to ₹3,59,664. Choose an FD when you already have the money; choose an RD when you are saving from each month's income.

The Post Office RD pays 6.7% a year, compounded quarterly, for October to December 2026 — the rate in the Ministry of Finance memorandum of 30 September 2026, which kept all small-savings rates unchanged. The rate on the day you open the account stays the same for the full 5 years. The tenure is fixed at 5 years (60 monthly deposits), extendable by another 5 years; the account can be closed early only after 3 years, and then the interest is paid at the savings-account rate of 4%.

Banks deduct 10% TDS when the interest they pay you in a financial year crosses ₹50,000 — ₹1,00,000 for senior citizens — from 1 April 2025 under Section 194A of the Income-tax Act. Without a PAN the rate is 20%. TDS is an advance collection, not the final tax: the interest is still taxed at your slab rate. Post Office RDs have no TDS deducted at all — but the interest is still taxable, so declare it. If your total income is below the taxable limit, submit Form 15G (or 15H for senior citizens) so the bank skips TDS.

Yes — RD interest is added to your income and taxed at your slab rate, in the year it accrues. Unlike PPF, an RD gets no Section 80C deduction on the deposits and no tax exemption on the interest — PPF interest is fully tax-free, so compare the two on our PPF calculator before choosing. Senior citizens get a deduction of up to ₹50,000 a year on interest income under Section 80TTB.

Bank recurring deposits are among the safest places for your money: the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), an RBI subsidiary, insures deposits up to ₹5 lakh per depositor per bank, principal and interest together, across all your accounts at that bank. The cover has been ₹5 lakh since February 2020. Post Office RDs are backed directly by the Government of India. Deposits with NBFCs and companies are NOT covered by DICGC, so a higher NBFC rate carries real credit risk.

Banks generally charge around ₹1.50 per ₹100 of the monthly instalment for each month of delay, and the maturity falls because that month's deposit earns less interest. The Post Office charges a default fee of ₹1 for every ₹100 of the monthly deposit for each month of default (National Savings RD Scheme, 2019); after four defaults the account is treated as discontinued and can only be revived within two months. This calculator assumes every instalment is paid on time; if you miss one, the real maturity will be slightly lower.

No. Every calculation runs entirely on this page — nothing is sent to a server, nothing is stored, and reloading the page clears your recent checks.