Post Office RD Calculator

It's tempting to estimate an RD's return by just multiplying your monthly deposit by the number of months and adding a rough interest guess — but that undercounts the actual maturity value, because each month's deposit earns quarterly-compounded interest for a different length of time. The deposit you make in month one earns interest for nearly the entire tenure; the deposit you make in the final month earns almost none. The official formula accounts for this properly, which is why this calculator's result will be slightly higher than a rough back-of-envelope estimate.

Post Office RDs are a good fit for building a savings habit with small, regular monthly amounts rather than a single lump sum — the minimum deposit is just ₹100/month. If you're deciding between an RD and a lump-sum FD for the same total money over time, the FD calculator will generally show a higher return, since a lump sum earns interest on the full amount from day one, while an RD's later deposits haven't had time to grow yet.

Depositing ₹2,000/month for 5 years at the current 6.7% rate produces a maturity value of approximately ₹1,42,732 — of which ₹1,20,000 was actually deposited, and the remaining roughly ₹22,732 is interest, compounded quarterly on a monthly-growing balance.

Each month's deposit starts earning interest from the moment it's made, not from the end of the RD term — so the deposit made in month one earns interest for nearly the full 5 years, while the deposit made in the final month earns almost none. The official quarterly-compounding formula accounts for this properly, which is why the maturity value is higher than a simple deposits-times-months estimate.