The best HDFC Bank FD rate is 6.50% p.a., and 7.10% for senior citizens. Rates vary by tenure — the full grid is below.
Checked at source 25 Aug 2026 · HDFC Bank’s published term-deposit rate grid dated 25 Aug 2026, hdfcbank.com
The short answer
- The best HDFC Bank FD rate is 6.50%, and 7.10% for senior citizens.
- You get it between three years one day and four years seven months. A one-year FD pays 6.25%.
- The rate does not keep rising with tenure. A five-year FD pays less than a three-year one.
- FD interest is taxed at your slab rate. At 30%, a 6.50% FD leaves you about 4.55%.
HDFC Bank FD interest rate
| Particular | Detail |
|---|---|
| Best general rate | 6.50% p.a. — 3 years 1 day to under 4 years 7 months |
| Best senior citizen rate | 7.10% p.a. — same bucket, a 0.60 point premium |
| Lowest rate on the grid | 2.75% — 7 to 29 days |
| 1-year rate | 6.25% / 6.75% senior |
| 5-year rate | 6.40% / 6.90% senior — lower than the three-year rate |
| Tenure slabs published | 19 — for deposits under ₹3 crore |
| Where it ranks | 9th of the 12 banks we track |
| Best rate we track | 8.25% — Suryoday Small Finance Bank |
From the bank’s own rate card · 25 Aug 2026 · HDFC Bank’s published term-deposit rate grid dated 25 Aug 2026, hdfcbank.com
Where 6.50% sits among the banks we track
Regular customer rates. The big banks are all priced together. The gap worth noticing is to the small finance banks — the same comparison across every bank we follow is on the best FD interest rates board.
| Bank | General / senior |
|---|---|
| Suryoday Small Finance Bank | 8.25% / 8.50% — best we track |
| Utkarsh Small Finance Bank | 8.10% / 8.25% |
| Shivalik Small Finance Bank · Unity Small Finance Bank · Jana Small Finance Bank | 8.00% — senior rates differ: 8.25% at Shivalik, 8.50% at Unity, 8.30% at Jana |
| Bank of Baroda | 6.75% / 7.25% — best of the large banks we track |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank | 6.65% / 7.15% |
| Punjab National Bank | 6.60% / 7.10% |
| HDFC Bank · ICICI Bank · Axis Bank | 6.50% — senior rates differ: 7.10% here, 7.25% at Axis |
| State Bank of India | 6.45% / 7.05% |
From each bank’s own rate page or rate card · 2 Oct 2026 · Credsir FD rate table, 2 Oct 2026
What 1.75 points costs on ₹5 lakh
Interest compounded every three months, as a cumulative FD is. ₹5 lakh is what deposit insurance covers per person per bank. To run the same sum on your own amount and tenure, use the FD calculator.
| Held for | At 6.50% / at 8.25% / difference |
|---|---|
| 1 year | ₹33,301 · ₹42,544 · ₹9,243 |
| 3 years | ₹1,06,704 · ₹1,38,799 · ₹32,095 |
| 5 years | ₹1,90,210 · ₹2,52,132 · ₹61,922 |
From published comparisons · 26 Aug 2026 · Computed from the published rates, compounded quarterly, before tax
What the tax leaves you
FD interest is taxed at your slab rate, each year as it builds up. This takes more off your return than anything else on this page.
| Your slab | Effective return on a 6.50% deposit |
|---|---|
| 5% | 6.17% |
| 20% | 5.20% |
| 30% | 4.55% |
| For comparison, 8.25% at the 30% slab | 5.78% |
RBI rule — applies to every lender · 26 Aug 2026 · Income Tax Act — interest from deposits is taxed at slab rate
The best rate is in the middle, not at the end
HDFC Bank publishes 19 tenure buckets for deposits below ₹3 crore, and the rate does not simply rise across them.
It pays 2.75% for 7 days, 6.25% for one year, and peaks at 6.50% between three years and one day and four years seven months. After that it drops back to 6.40% for the rest of the five-year range.
So a five-year FD pays you less than a three-and-a-half-year one, at the same bank on the same day. Locking money away for longer is not rewarded past the peak. It is penalised.
The cut-offs are sharp. At 15 months you get 6.35%. At 18 months you get 6.45%. Three extra months buys a tenth of a point. If you are splitting money across several FDs, read the buckets instead of picking round numbers.
Our own table used to say the best tenure here was 15 to 21 months. The bank’s published grid shows that was wrong, and we have corrected it.
The senior citizen bonus is worth targeting
Across most of the grid, senior citizens get half a point extra. In the peak bucket they get 0.60 points — 7.10% against 6.50%. That is the widest bonus HDFC Bank offers on its retail grid.
So the three-year bucket is doubly good for an eligible saver: it has both the highest regular rate and the biggest bonus. Defaulting to a one-year FD at 6.75% gives up 0.35 points against the same money in the peak bucket.
One comparison worth knowing: Axis Bank pays 7.25% to senior citizens on the same 6.50% regular rate — a 0.75 point bonus, the widest among the big banks we track, though only at five to ten years. If the FD is specifically for a senior citizen, the ranking of the big banks changes.
Deposit insurance is the same at every bank
The usual reason for accepting 6.50% instead of 8.25% is that a big bank feels safer. Below ₹5 lakh, that reasoning does not hold.
DICGC insurance covers ₹5 lakh per person per bank, including interest, and the cover does not change with the size of the bank.
So on a ₹5 lakh FD your legal protection at Suryoday Small Finance Bank is exactly the same as at HDFC Bank — and the small finance bank pays ₹61,922 more over five years. Split across two such banks, ₹10 lakh stays fully insured.
Above ₹5 lakh in one bank the sum changes. You become an ordinary creditor, and the bank’s balance sheet is what stands behind you. That is a fair reason to prefer a big bank for a big deposit. It is not a reason to prefer one for ₹5 lakh.
Tax matters more than the rate
FD interest is taxed at your slab rate, and it is taxed each year as it builds up — not when the FD matures. A five-year FD creates a tax bill in each of those five years, even though no money has reached you.
At the 30% slab, a 6.50% FD leaves you 4.55%. At the 20% slab, 5.20%. That deduction is bigger than the entire 1.75 point gap to the best-paying bank in our table, which is worth remembering before you optimise hard on the rate.
TDS is cut once your interest crosses the limit, but TDS is not your final tax. It is an advance payment. If your slab is higher you pay the rest; if it is lower or nil you claim it back. The TDS on FD calculator shows where your own deposit sits against the limit. Form 15G or 15H stops the deduction in the first place if you qualify. Treating TDS as the full tax is the most common FD mistake.
How it compares
9th highest of the 12 providers we track, 1.75% below Suryoday Small Finance Bank at 8.25%. Everything else HDFC Bank publishes on term deposits — tenure grid, premature withdrawal, senior rates — sits on the HDFC Bank fixed deposit page.
Common questions
What is the highest HDFC Bank FD interest rate?
6.50% a year for regular customers and 7.10% for senior citizens, on deposits below ₹3 crore held for three years and one day to under four years seven months. That is the peak of the grid — a five-year FD pays 6.40%.
What is the HDFC Bank FD rate for 1 year?
6.25% for regular customers and 6.75% for senior citizens. That is a quarter point below the peak of the grid, which sits in the three-year bucket at 6.50% and 7.10%.
Is the HDFC Bank FD rate good compared to other banks?
It is 9th of the 12 banks we track. It matches ICICI Bank and Axis Bank at 6.50%, and beats State Bank of India at 6.45%. But it is 1.75 points below the best small finance bank at 8.25% — about ₹61,922 less on ₹5 lakh over five years.
How much tax do I pay on HDFC Bank FD interest?
It is taxed at your income tax slab rate, each year as it builds up rather than at maturity. At the 30% slab a 6.50% FD leaves you 4.55%; at 20% it leaves 5.20%. TDS is cut above the limit but it is an advance payment, not your final tax.
Terms change without notice. Confirm the current figures with HDFC Bank before you act.