What's on offer: Axis Bank to BoB, shop around for best fixed deposit rates

Here's how the FD rates by different banks and institutes stack up

By stretching your investment tenure slightly, and hunting for good rates across banks, you can improve your returns from fixed deposits

• When investing in fixed deposits (FDs), it pays to scan rates across tenures. Sometimes, by stretching your tenure a little, you can get a better rate
• FD rates also vary across banks. Rates offered by small finance banks are, for instance, more attractive and go as high as 9 per cent (9.5 per cent for senior citizens)
• Strike a good balance between returns and safety by spreading your FD investments across larger and smaller banks
• Conservative investors, who can take a little risk, may explore the option of investing in short-term debt funds 
• When debt funds are held for more than three years, they become entitled to indexation benefit. Hence, their post-tax returns get better than that of FDs, which are taxed at the marginal tax rate
• Those wishing to withdraw money prematurely from their FDs should explore the option of overdraft facility against them. The other alternative is to pay a penalty