Savings and Investments

The fixed deposit accounts which have a lock-in period of five or 10 years also offer income tax benefit under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act

The fixed deposit accounts which have a lock-in period of five or 10 years also offer income tax benefit under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.

SBI Zero balance account: Large banks like SBI (State Bank of India) offer modest interest rates on savings accounts, including on zero balance savings accounts. However, small finance banks like ESAF Small Finance Bank and Equitas Small Finance Bank offer interest rates up to 7 per cent on zero balance savings accounts.

State Bank of India (SBI), the largest lender of the country, has recently hiked its fixed deposit or FD interest rates across various maturities.

In a recurring deposit, a depositor usually makes small value remittances, say Rs.500 or Rs 1,000, at regular intervals. Unlike any other market-linked instrument, a recurring deposit allows the depositor to earn a pre-assured sum (with applicable tax deduction) without any investment risk after completion of the maturity period.

SBI (State Bank of India) offers zero balance savings accounts, which do not require any minimum balance. Besides, it also offers savings accounts facility across its metro, urban, semi-urban and rural branches. Minimum balance requirements and penalties across all these savings accounts vary depending on branch location.

State Bank of India, the largest lender of the country, has revised its fixed deposit (FD) interest rates with effect from today.

The interest rates on recurring deposits of large banks like State Bank of India, ICICI Bank are not as high as those offered by small finance banks.

Bank FD Interest Rates: FD accounts which have a lock-in period of five or 10 years also offer income tax benefit under Section 80C of Income Tax Act.

Top banks today offer different types of bank accounts that don't require the customer to maintain any particular minimum balance or deposit every month. State Bank of India (SBI) offers the facility of opening a zero balance account in the form of a Basic Savings Bank Deposit, Digital Savings and Insta Savings accounts. Axis Bank offers a basic saving deposit account and Axis ASAP savings account. HDFC Bank BSBD or basic savings bank deposit account is also a zero balance account.

Post Office Investment scheme: Recently, the minimum amount of annual deposit in Sukanya Samriddhi accounts was slashed to Rs. 250 from Rs. 1,000.

If you are looking to invest your money in safe savings instruments, fixed deposits are always the best choice, say experts. Fixed deposits or FDs are secure fixed income instruments, which offer guaranteed returns.

India Post, the postal system of the country, offers several savings schemes which not only require modest contribution but also offer attractive investment return.

Fixed deposit interest rates: Fixed deposits or term deposits offered by banks are popular among customers because of the simple reason that they fetch higher interest rates than other savings schemes.

A five-year tax-saving fixed deposit in State Bank of India (SBI) fetches you an interest rate of 6.75 per cent. The deadline for filing income tax returns (ITR) for assessment year 2018-19 is round the corner (July 31). If you did not make any tax-saving investments in the last fiscal, you should make some wise choices this year to invest your money in tax-saving schemes like fixed deposits for tenures of five or 10 years.