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ToolBoxGenie

FD Calculator

Calculators · Added 14 August 2026

Enter a deposit, the rate your bank is quoting and the term, and this calculator returns the maturity amount, the interest earned and the effective annual yield — the figure that lets you compare two deposits whose rates are quoted with different compounding.

%

The rate your bank is quoting for this term.

yrs

Use decimals for part-years — 1.5 is 18 months.

How to use the fd calculator

  1. 1Enter the amount you are depositing.
  2. 2Enter the rate the bank is quoting for that exact term. Rates differ by term, and the highest advertised rate is often for one specific tenure.
  3. 3Set the term in years. Decimals work — enter 1.5 for eighteen months.
  4. 4Pick the compounding frequency. Indian banks compound quarterly on most deposits; check the terms rather than assuming.
  5. 5Press Calculate to see the maturity amount, the interest earned and the effective annual yield.

Examples

A five-year deposit compounded quarterly

Input
₹1,00,000 at 7% for 5 years, quarterly compounding
Result
₹1,41,478 — ₹41,478 of interest, at an effective yield of 7.19%

The effective yield exceeds the quoted 7% because interest is credited four times a year and then earns interest itself.

The same rate, compounded annually

Input
₹1,00,000 at 7% for 5 years, yearly compounding
Result
₹1,40,255 — ₹1,223 less for an identical headline rate

Two deposits advertising 7% are not the same deposit. Compounding frequency is why.

A short deposit

Input
₹5,00,000 at 6.5% for 18 months, quarterly compounding
Result
₹5,50,774 — ₹50,774 of interest

Enter 1.5 in the term field. Part-years are handled exactly, not rounded to whole years.

About the fd calculator

Why compounding frequency matters more than it looks

The formula is M = P(1 + r/n)^(n·t), where n is the number of times a year interest is credited. Increasing n raises the result, because interest credited earlier spends longer earning interest of its own. The effect is small over one year and meaningful over ten.

This is the reason two deposits advertising the same rate can pay different amounts, and the reason banks are not always eager to lead with the compounding frequency. On a five-year deposit of a lakh at 7%, moving from annual to quarterly compounding is worth about ₹1,200 — not life-changing, but free, and invisible if you only compare headline rates.

There is a ceiling to it. As compounding approaches continuous, the effective yield converges on e^r − 1, which at 7% is 7.25%. Daily compounding is therefore only marginally better than quarterly, and any product marketing daily compounding as a major advantage is overselling a rounding difference.

Where a fixed deposit fits

A fixed deposit is one of the few instruments where the return is contractual rather than expected. That is its entire appeal: you know the maturity amount on the day you open it, and no market movement changes it. For money that has a job to do on a known date — a fee due next year, an emergency buffer, the down payment already committed — that certainty is worth more than a higher expected return with a wide distribution around it.

The trade-off is inflation. A deposit paying 7% while prices rise 6% has earned one percent in purchasing power before tax, and after tax at a higher slab it has lost ground. This is not an argument against fixed deposits; it is an argument against using them for money that needs to grow over decades. The honest framing is that a deposit protects the nominal amount and does not protect what the amount can buy.

The practical structure most people land on is a ladder: several deposits maturing at staggered intervals rather than one large deposit maturing all at once. It keeps part of the money reachable without breaking anything, and it spreads reinvestment across different rate environments instead of betting the whole sum on the rate available on a single day.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the quoted rate and the effective yield?
The quoted rate is the nominal annual rate. The effective yield is what you actually earn once compounding is taken into account. At 7% compounded quarterly, the effective yield is 7.19%, because each quarter's interest starts earning interest of its own. When comparing two deposits, the effective yield is the honest comparison and the quoted rate is not.
Is the maturity amount what I will receive?
No — it is the gross figure. Interest on a fixed deposit is taxable as income in the year it accrues, and banks deduct tax at source once interest crosses the statutory threshold. What reaches you depends on your tax slab and on whether you have filed the relevant declaration with the bank. Treat the number here as the pre-tax maturity value.
What happens if I break the deposit early?
Almost every bank applies a penalty: interest is recalculated at the rate applicable to the period the money actually stayed, often minus a further penalty of half to one percent. A five-year deposit broken at eighteen months does not earn the five-year rate for those eighteen months. This calculator models a deposit held to maturity and cannot predict a bank's specific penalty terms.
Should I pick cumulative or non-cumulative?
A cumulative deposit reinvests the interest, which is what this calculator models. A non-cumulative one pays it out monthly or quarterly, so there is nothing to compound and the maturity amount is just the original deposit back. Cumulative produces more if you do not need the income; non-cumulative exists for people who do.
Are my figures sent anywhere?
No. The calculation is JavaScript running in this browser tab. Nothing you enter is transmitted, logged or stored, which is why you can put a real deposit amount in without thinking about it.

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