Tag Archives: fixed deposit

Investment

NRE Fixed Deposit rates (November 2020)

12 Comments

With RBI reducing benchmark rates the NRE FD rates have been on a decline though some banks still offer high returns.

NRE Interest is tax free but only guaranteed protected upto a maximum of 5 lac rupees just like any other bank deposits, anything over that is like a unsecured loan to the bank.

So while making a deposit try and spread the risk across different banks if possible. Yes, that means having to manage more than one bank account and if you like the convenience go for a respected and strong bank like SBI though it means lesser return.

BankRateTerm
Indus Ind7%1 to 3 years
IDFC First6%500 days
Standard Chartered5.60%12 months to 21 Months
HDFC5.50%greater than 5 Years
DBS5.50%greater than 4 years
ICICI Bank5.50%greater than 5 Years
SBI5.40%greater than 5 Years
Kotak Mahindra4.90%1 year 1 month to 4 years

When shortlisting a bank, I would not touch a co-operative bank no matter how high a rate they offer, then I would exclude small time private players, then exclude big private players who have grown too fast (remember Yes Bank), then look at Balance sheet and management and even exclude foreign banks like Deutsche and HSBC whose parent entities are struggling. If any foreign bank fails RBI is not going to save it. Lastly look if LIC has a stake in the bank, if yes, then that is a very good indicator of government support and interest (higher chance of bailout if something goes awry).

Click on the Bank Name in the table above and it will take you to the website of the Bank and if you find any other rates that are worth sharing leave a comment and I will add them to the table.

Advertisement
Finance, Forex, Investment, SGD INR

Why Timing is So Important

16 Comments

While it maybe difficult to time any market timing does play an important role and could be the difference between ordinary and stellar returns.

Timing of transferring money to India and investing in NRE Deposits or any other investment vehicle could also mean the difference between a 3% compounded return vs returns of 7% or more.

To illustrate this, I took the money transfers I have done over the past few years and tabulated a return table. I factored in cost of transferring funds i.e. nett money received in India and also the cost of repatriating the money back on maturity and using today’s exchange rate

As you would see the return ranges from anywhere between 3% to 8%, even for transfers which were done not too far apart.

The best returns were achieved when the SGD INR rate was well beyond what fundamentals commanded – like in 2018 the fair value of SGD INR was around 52 and a transfer made at 53.3 generated a superior return

If the exchange rate moved favorably or stayed flat the returns went up. Return matrix using exchange rate of 54

Based on long term interest rate parity, i believe 54.5 -55 is fair value for SGD INR towards the end of 2020. So if the pair crosses 55 and banks are still offering 6% or more NRE FD’s then it would be a good investment to consider.

I would be keen to hear what your experience with generating stable returns in India has been

Finance, Forex, Remittances

If Singapore heads to a Technical Recession what happens to SGD INR??

6 Comments

Market has been rife about Singapore heading into a technical recession in 3rd Quarter of 2011. Prime Minister has revised the overall growth outlook downwards in the National Day speech and there has been a steady decline in the Electronics Export and other trading activities.

A technical recession occurs when a economy experiences negative growth for 2 consecutive quarters. To spur the economic growth I would expect the fiscal authority to ease out the rise in Singapore dollar to make exports more competetive. Lets look at what happened in  the last technical recession of 2008.

The Singapore dollar depreciated 14% against the USD and moved from 1.35 to 1.54 in a span of 6 months!!

Now what does this mean for SGD-INR that is had a spectacular run of 9% annualised appreaciation in past 4 years?

Simply speaking the SGD INR is a cross pair between SGD-USD and USD-INR therefore a weakening of SGD against USD would result in a decline in SGD – INR. The current USD-INR rate is 46.25 and SGD-USD is at 1.203. To get a better view lets see what happened to USD INR in the same period where SGD fell against the USD

USD – INR moved to 51.5  from 42 in the same time frame which is a gain of 20%.

Scenario 1

Using the two gain numbers of 14% and 20% the USD-SGD pair should move to 1.37 from 1.20 as of today and USD-INR would touch 55.5. The cross rate usinf these calculations would come out to 40.51 for SGD – INR.

I am sure all who have SGD holdings would get all excited seeing the figure, but before getting too excited lets look at other possibilities.

Scenario 2

The INR going beyond 50 mark will spell trouble for the Indian economy specially if the Oil prices remain around the $80 mark and the Reserve bank of India would intervene to stem  the rise. So a possible future rate where the SGD weakens 14% the cross rate would come out to 36.50.

Scenario 3

Another possibility is that the SGD depreciates around 7-8% and moves to the 1.30 mark then SGD INR would be at the 38.46, assuming that INR moves to 50 against the USD which is also the current rate.

Now lets throw in the Interest Rate of 10% for Term Deposits in India – for a 6 month period from the current rate of 38.4 any money invested in India would yield 40.32 in target rate (tax free) which is close to the rates in scenario 1. On a post tax basis the amount would grow to yield 39.74.

So we have the facts lined up and no matter what the scenario is, repatriating money to India makes a lot of sense.

Finance, Remittances

Term Deposit Rates Finally breach the 10% p.a. mark

2 Comments

Finally the barrier has been breached!! With the latest round of rate hikes by RBI to reign in the inflation the Term Deposit Rates or the Fixed Deposit Rate has gone past the 10% mark.

Karur Vysya Bank is taking 1 to 2 year deposits at the 10% mark – http://www.kvb.co.in/pdf/Term_Deposits/deposits_rates.pdf

And if you like the safety in state backing then State Bank of Travancore (SBT) is your best bet – taking deposits @ 9.6% for deposits as long as 10 years – http://www.statebankoftravancore.com/interests.htm. This is an extremely beneficial proposition. No other banks are taking deposits for more than 2 year time frame and offering the same rates as SBT.

So if you are looking for your money to double then “FIX” it now in a 7 year deposit

Finance, Remittances

Banks in India offering more than 9% p.a. on a Term Deposit

2 Comments

Here is a list of banks in India that are offering more than 9% in Fixed Deposits / Term Deposits as of 30 April 2011.

RBI is due to meet on 3rd May 2011 and the consensus is that the rates will be increased by 25 basis points in RBI’s announcement which can potentially push these Term Deposit Rates upwards.