Post Office RD Calculator

About the National Savings Recurring Deposit Account (NSRD)

The Post Office Recurring Deposit — formally the National Savings Recurring Deposit (NSRD) Account — is a sovereign-backed small savings scheme operated by the Department of Posts under the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Because it is a small savings instrument rather than a bank deposit, both the principal you deposit and the interest it earns carry a direct Government of India guarantee, independent of DICGC deposit insurance limits that apply to commercial bank deposits.

How Post Office RD Interest Rates Are Set

Commercial banks set their RD rates internally through their own Asset-Liability Committee (ALCO), based on each bank's funding needs and competitive positioning. Post Office small savings scheme rates work differently: they are benchmarked against domestic Government Securities (G-Sec) yields of comparable maturity and are reviewed quarterly by the Ministry of Finance. This is why the Post Office RD rate is identical nationwide — every branch offers the same rate for the same quarter, unlike bank RD rates which can vary by branch. Use the rate applicable during your opening quarter when entering values above.

RD Interest Rates Post Office Pays on Popular Monthly Amounts

Because the rate is notified centrally each quarter, the RD interest rates Post Office branches pay are identical everywhere in the country — so the maturity value for a given instalment is a national figure rather than a branch-by-branch one. The table below runs the three instalments people most often ask about over the full statutory five-year term. The 6.5% and 7.0% columns are illustrative brackets, not a notified rate; put the rate for your own opening quarter into the calculator above for the figure that will apply to you.

Post Office RD 1000 per Month for 5 Years

The most common starting instalment. Sixty payments of ₹1,000 put ₹60,000 into the account and return roughly ₹70,991 at 6.5%, so the interest earned is about ₹10,991. Note that this is nowhere near 6.5% × 5 years of the total: your first instalment compounds for twenty quarters, your last for one third of one, so the average rupee is invested for roughly half the term.

Post Office RD 2000 per Month for 5 Years

Doubling the instalment doubles everything proportionally — ₹1,20,000 paid in, roughly ₹1,41,982 back at 6.5%. Nothing about the arithmetic changes with size, which is worth knowing before you stretch to a figure you may not sustain: the penalty for defaulting costs more than the extra interest a larger instalment earns.

Post Office RD 3000 per Month for 5 Years

Three thousand a month puts ₹1,80,000 in over the term and matures at roughly ₹2,12,972 at 6.5%, or ₹2,15,798 at 7.0%. At this level the annual interest is still comfortably inside the Section 194A threshold on its own, though it counts alongside interest from any other Post Office deposits you hold when the threshold is assessed.

If what you actually want is a monthly payout rather than a monthly commitment, the Post Office MIS calculator covers the Monthly Income Scheme, which takes a lump sum and pays interest out every month — the mirror image of a recurring deposit.

Key Statutory Features & Facilities

• •Fixed 5-Year Tenure: Comes with a standard 60-month maturity period, with an option to extend for an additional 5-year block once the account matures.
• •Loan Facility: Depositors can avail of a loan of up to 50% of the accumulated balance after completing 1 year (12 consecutive installments) in the account.
• •Compounding Standard: Interest is compounded quarterly and credited to the account at maturity.

Tax & TDS Rules on RD Interest

Interest earned on a Post Office Recurring Deposit is fully taxable under "Income from Other Sources" as per your applicable income tax slab. TDS under Section 194A applies if your total interest income from deposits with the Post Office exceeds ₹50,000 in a financial year (₹1,00,000 for senior citizens). TDS is deducted at 10% if your PAN is on record, or 20% if it is not. If your total income is below the taxable limit, you can avoid TDS by submitting Form 15G (for individuals below 60 years) or Form 15H (for senior citizens) at the start of each financial year.

To compare this against a bank recurring deposit, or against a lump sum rather than a monthly commitment, use the master RD calculator or the fixed deposit calculator.