The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has introduced changes to the rules governing the interest rates on Fixed Deposits, including bulk deposits. The changes will be applicable from October 1, 2026.
The overhaul aims to bring uniformity and transparency for customers while ensuring some flexibility for banks in managing liquidity through bulk deposits. While the revamp does not bring greater returns, customers would not need to worry about different rates at different branches and would also be able to gauge better options.
Deposits of Rs 3 crore and more are called bulk deposits.
As per the Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Interest Rate on Deposits) Second Amendment Directions, 2026, the reforms apply to all Commercial Banks, Small Finance Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Local Area Banks, Payment Banks and Urban Cooperative Banks.
Uniform Rates
Banks across all branches will have to provide the same rate of interest on deposits of the same amount made on the same day. This is to ensure that no customer in any part of the country faces discrimination by banks in terms of the rates offered.
If customers deposit the same amount on the same date in two different branches of the same bank, neither receives an advantage over the other, and all are treated equally.
Disclosure of interest rates
Interest rates applicable on all deposits, including bulk deposits, must be disclosed by banks in advance to offer consistency to customers and help them make better decisions.
The bank must offer interest rates as per the schedule disclosed on the bank’s website earlier. For bulk deposits, banks are required to publish the interest rates on the website at 10:00 am, with a grace period of 10 minutes, every business day. Through this, customers would have better transparency while deciding the best offer for them.
Bulk deposits and LCR
In the case of bulk deposits, RBI has offered greater flexibility to banks in deciding differential interest rates for deposits based on the run-off rate. Banks have the freedom to offer different interest rates on bulk deposits depending on the liquidity risk as per the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) framework. This applies to deposits as well as unsecured wholesale funding. Rupee-denominated deposits from non-residents would follow the same reform, helping banks assess their liquidity requirements while deciding the applicable interest rates.
The reforms bring greater transparency and uniformity to retail depositors while banks continue to determine the interest rates based on market conditions and liquidity requirements. On the other hand, lenders are allowed to structure interest rates on different bulk deposits in order to navigate through liquidity risks.
