SBI Lowers Fixed Deposit Rates

New Delhi: India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has cut fixed deposit rates by 20 basis points across tenors effective May 16. As per the bank’s website, the cut in interest rates on retail domestic term deposits below Rs3 crore is applicable for both general public and senior citizens. Deposits for 2 years to less than 3 years give the maximum interest to investors at 6.7 per cent, followed by 3 years to less than 5 years, which give 6.55 per cent interest from May 16. Fixed deposits of 5 years to 10 years now get interest of 6.30 per cent for general public, while it is 6.5 per cent for deposits of duration 1 year to less than 2 years. The interest rate of specific tenor scheme of ‘Amrit Vrishti’ (444 days) has also been revised from 7.05 per cent to 6.85 per cent effective May 16, 2025.

Senior citizens and super senior citizens (aged above 80 years) are eligible for their additional benefits in rate of interest. Last month also, SBI had cut deposit rates by 10-25 basis points, taking cue from the policy rate cuts by the RBI. The Reserve Bank in April had slashed key interest rate by 25 basis points for the second time in a row to support growth facing the threat of reciprocal tariffs by the US.

The policy repo rate now stands at 6 per cent. Shares of SBI were trading at Rs793.95, up 0.27 per cent over previous close on BSE.

YONO now a lifeline to SBI’s top line growth

State Bank of India (SBI) posted record profits of about $9.2 billion in fiscal ending March 2025, becoming only the third Indian company, after Reliance Industries and ONGC, to feature in the Global Top-100 companies ranked by net profit.

However, bulk of SBI’s profits is driven by a relatively small digital cohort, Rajendra Srivastava, who is considered India’s Philip Kotler, said in a post on medium.com.