Mumbai, August 2, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised rules governing deposit interest rates to improve transparency and ensure uniform treatment of depositors across banks. The new framework will come into effect from October 1.
The revised directions will apply to commercial banks, small finance banks, regional rural banks, local area banks, payments banks and urban cooperative banks.
Under the updated norms, banks will have to disclose interest rates applicable to all deposits, including bulk deposits, in advance on their official websites.
For bulk deposits, banks must publish the applicable rates by 10:00 am on every working day. A maximum grace period of 10 minutes has been allowed, meaning the information must be available by 10:10 am.
The RBI has also mandated that deposit interest rates should remain uniform across all branches of a bank and for all customers. Banks will not be allowed to offer different rates for deposits of the same amount accepted on the same date at different branches.
However, the central bank has retained flexibility for banks in deciding rates for bulk deposits. Lenders will be allowed to offer different rates for bulk deposits after considering rates applicable to deposits or unsecured wholesale funding under the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) framework.
The revised guidelines do not direct banks to increase or reduce fixed deposit interest rates from October 1. Deposit rates will continue to be decided by individual banks based on liquidity conditions, funding requirements and market factors.
The RBI’s move is expected to strengthen transparency in deposit rate disclosures while giving banks greater operational flexibility in managing bulk deposits.
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