Best FD Interest Rates in India as of September 15, 2011

(You can get the current best fixed deposit rates in India here.)

Highest Fixed Deposit Rates for Non-Seniors in all Indian Banks

Duration	Institutions	Rate
3 months	Corporation Bank	8.75
6 months	Oriental Bank Of Commerce	9.10
1 year	Lakshmi Vilas Bank Greater Bombay Coop Bank	10.50
2 years	Lakshmi Vilas Bank Mahanagar Co-op Bank	10.50
3 years	Mahanagar Co-op Bank	10.50
4 years	City Union Bank Tamilnad Mercantile Bank	9.75
5 years	Tamilnad Mercantile Bank	10.00
>5 years	Tamilnad Mercantile Bank	10.00

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Highest Fixed Deposit Rates for Non-Seniors in Public Sector Banks

Duration	Institutions	Rate
3 months	Corporation Bank	8.75
6 months	Oriental Bank Of Commerce	9.10
1 year	Oriental Bank Of Commerce	9.75
2 years	Oriental Bank Of Commerce	9.75
3 years	State Bank Of Travancore	9.60
4 years	State Bank Of Travancore	9.60
5 years	State Bank Of Travancore	9.60
>5 years	State Bank Of Travancore	9.60

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Highest Fixed Deposit Rates for Seniors in all Indian Banks

Duration	Institutions	Rate
3 months	UCO Bank Corporation Bank	8.75
6 months	Oriental Bank Of Commerce	9.60
1 year	Greater Bombay Coop Bank	11.00
2 years	Lakshmi Vilas Bank Mahanagar Co-op Bank	10.75
3 years	Mahanagar Co-op Bank	10.75
4 years	Lakshmi Vilas Bank IDBI Bank	10.25
5 years	Tamilnad Mercantile Bank IDBI Bank Lakshmi Vilas Bank IDBI Bank	10.25
>5 years	IDBI Bank Tamilnad Mercantile Bank IDBI Bank	10.25

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Highest Fixed Deposit Rates for Seniors in Public Sector Banks

Duration	Institutions	Rate
3 months	UCO Bank Corporation Bank	8.75
6 months	Oriental Bank Of Commerce	9.60
1 year	Oriental Bank Of Commerce IDBI Bank	10.25
2 years	Oriental Bank Of Commerce IDBI Bank	10.25
3 years	IDBI Bank	10.25
4 years	IDBI Bank	10.25
5 years	IDBI Bank	10.25
>5 years	IDBI Bank	10.25

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Highest FD Rates for Non-Seniors for 80(C) tax savings deposits

(Max of Rs. 1 lakh per year. Duration of FD is minimum of 5 years)

Institutions	Rate
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank	10.00

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Highest FD Rates for Seniors for 80(C) tax savings deposits

(Max of Rs. 1 lakh per year. Duration of FD is minimum of 5 years)

Institutions	Rate
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank	10.25

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Highest NRO Fixed Deposit Rates (for NRIs)

Duration	Institutions	Rate
3 months	Syndicate Bank	8.50
6 months	Syndicate Bank	9.00
1 year	Tamilnad Mercantile Bank	10.00
2 years	Catholic Syrian Bank	9.70
3 years	Tamilnad Mercantile Bank	9.75
4 years	Tamilnad Mercantile Bank	9.75
5 years	Tamilnad Mercantile Bank	10.00
>5 years	Tamilnad Mercantile Bank	10.00

You can get the current best fixed deposit rates in India here.

Makemytrip.com, a online travel website, is offering upto 30% off for ICICI netbanking customers. These discounts are valid upto August 20, 2010.

Some of the salient aspects of this offer are as follows:

Domestic Flights: Upto Rs. 250 cashback
• Rs. 100 per one way ticket or Rs. 250 per return ticket (except Indigo Airlines and Spice Jet Airlines)

Bus: 20% cashback
• Max Rs. 100 per transaction on 5 unique transactions booked on five different dates
• A maximum cash back of Rs. 1000 per account

Online Hotels: Upto 30% cashback
• 30% cashback on bookings above Rs. 5,000
• 15% cashback on bookings uptill Rs. 5,000
• Max Rs. 500 per night and Rs. 1,500 per transaction

International Flights: 10% cashback
• Max Rs. 5,000 per transaction for US travel
• Max Rs. 750 per transaction to any other sector (except SAARC countries)

The deal code to be used is ICICINET. More details of this offer are available on makemytrip.com.

Travel website Yatra.com is offering upto 30% on travel bookings for ICICI Bank Credit and Debit Cardholders. This offer is valid till July 31, 2010.

How to avail these discounts:

1. Search for a flight (domestic or international) or a hotel within India at www.yatra.com.

2. Select your preferred flight or hotel and continue with the booking process.

3. On the Payment Details, enter the promotion code, that is the letters ”ICICI” followed by the first 6 digits of your ICICI Bank Credit or Debit Card Number. For example, if your card number is 5239 5134 5678 9012, the promotion code will be “ICICI523951″.

Book online using your ICICI Bank Credit or Debit card and get following benefits:

1. Get 30% discount on Hotel and holiday booking with your signature, platinum and Titanium Credit card subject to maximum to Rs. 1250/- off.

2. Get 15% discount on hotels and holiday booking within India for Gold and Silver Credit Card subject to maximum to Rs. 750/- off.

3. Get 10% discount on domestic flights subject to maximum of Rs 250/- off.

4. Get 10% discount on International Flights subject to maximum of Rs. 750/- off.

Book a train ticket on Yatra.com using your ICICI Bank Credit or Debit card and get Rs 250 off on your next hotel or holidays bookings. Just make a successful Train booking and Yatra.com will SMS the discount code to you on the Cell no. provided to it during your booking.

Reserve Bank of India (RBi) has indicated through a press release that applications made to various departments of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can now be tracked on-line through the Application Tracking System (ATS). The Reserve Bank launched the Application Tracking System on its website for convenience of the public. The ATS, cannot be used for tracking complaints made under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme or any other complaints.

For tracking the above applications made, the applicants will have to register on the RBI website (ATS link on the home page of www.rbi.org.in). The tracking system will generate a first time login password and send it to the applicant through email. The applicants must necessarily change their password on first login. Through this facility, the applicant can then submit an online application, attach related documents, view it and track its movement.

As per the advice / directions of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), five free cash transactions per month will be allowed in other bank ATMs for savings bank customers w.e.f. 15th Oct 2009. Also, the maximum withdrawal limit per transaction is Rs. 10,000/-.

Take advantage of the Loyalty Rewards Program introduced by SBI for Internet Banking customers. This scheme is effective from November 26, 2009.

This scheme rewards existing as well as new retail internet banking customers of SBI by giving them reward points for transacting online. The rewards points can then be redeemed for cash.

According the the release from SBI, internet banking customers will automatically qualify for reward points if they carry on the following transactions of Rs. 100 or above via onlinesbi:

• Bill payments, online shopping, merchant payments etc.
• Government transactions pertaining to retail/individual customers falling under  Central/State taxes (OLTAS,CBEC etc), Cyber treasury.
• Railways ticket booking through IRCTC.
• RTGS/NEFT (retail internet banking transactions only)/Visa Money Transfer.

Based upon the number of transactions a customer will gain points and these points can be redeemed online for cash back. The cash from the redemption proceeds will be immediately credited to the customers transaction account upon opting for redemption, subject to the availability of a minimum of 400 points at the time of each redemption.

The number of points rewarded depends on the transaction type as shown in the table below: 

Transaction Type	No. of Points Rewarded
RTGS/NEFT	5
Bill Payment/Merchant	6
IRCTC	10
VMT	10
Govt Tax Payments	20

 

The value of each rewards point is Rs 0.25.

The best part of this scheme is that no registration is required for enjoying the benefits of this program. All internet banking customers doing online transactions will be automatically eligible for loyalty rewards.

The Loyalty Rewards Program will continue for 1 year and maybe extended at the discretion of the bank. You will have three months after the withdrawal of the scheme to redeem your points.

If you are a internet banking customer doing a lot of transactions, this is an excellent offer from SBI. Find more details of the Loyalty Rewards Program here.

August 21, 2009. According to an article in PTI, ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar indicated the interest rates for loans will start going up any time now, contrary to the projection by SBI Chairman that borrowers will not be impacted until Diwali.

PTI quotes Ms. Kochhar as follows:

I really believe that interest rates are not going to go down from here. Gradually they would go up. When? …would really depend on how fast the credit growth takes place

It’s difficult to say who will turn out to be right. Interest rates for home, car and other personal loans are quite attractive at the moment and borrowers can benefit from taking advantage of the interest rates now. Many banks including SBI are also offering a waiver of processing fees on their loan packages.

 With increasing number of Indians using online banking facilities, it’s important to make sure that our PCs are protected from the ever present threats on the Internet.

There are some golden rules you can follow for safe online banking:

• Install up-to-date anti-virus software: Anti-virus software protects you from Trojan horses. Trojan horses are typically sent to computer systems through email. They are particularly dangerous because they have the potential to allow others to gain control of your computer system remotely, without your knowledge or consent.
• Activate a pop-up blocker
• Scan your computer for spyware regularly: Spyware and adware are programs that monitor your Internet activity and potentially relay information to a disreputable source. Free spyware removal programs are available on the Internet.
• Keep your browser and operating system up-to-date with software updates: This will ensure that you have the latest security related updates and make you less vulnerable to threats.
• Use a personal firewall: Firewalls create a barrier between your computer and the rest of the Internet. A firewall can be a hardware device, a software application or a combination of the two. Firewalls can prevent malicious attacks and block certain types of data from entering your computer or private network. They can also be set up to alert you if anyone tries to access your system.
• Protect your Passwords: Keep your passwords unique for different accounts. Do not write them down anywhere. Don’t use personal details in your passwords since it makes it easier to guess.
• Sign off from your online accounts once you are done. Do not just close the browser.
• Avoid accessing your accounts from a public/shared computer.
• Use an Internet browser that supports 128-bit encryption
• Do not respond to emails asking for account related information such as passwords, account numbers etc.