Are you planning to invest your surplus money into a fixed deposit? Then you should explore the option of corporate fixed deposit. A corporate fixed deposit will give you higher returns as compared to the traditional bank fixed deposit. In this article, I will compare the corporate fixed deposit with the bank fixed deposit and will check whether you should invest or not.
What is Corporate Fixed Deposit?
Corporate companies have been rated by the rating agencies and based on their ratings investment decision can be taken. CRISIL is such one rating agency that rates the corporate companies in India. Usually, the interest rates offered on the corporate fixed deposits are higher than the bank fixed deposits.
Advantage of Corporate Fixed Deposit
- Higher interest rates
- Low risk with a high rating companies
- Invest in fundamentally strong company
- Fixed interest rate till the maturity
- Good investment instrument for diversification in your investment portfolio
- Short term to the long term investment option
- High liquidity (Easy withdrawal)
Limitations of Corporate Fixed Deposit
- Interest earned is taxable
- Not suitable for the retired person seeking monthly income
- Cannot avail loan against FD
Points to check while investing in a corporate fixed deposit
There are a few points you should check before making your investment decision into corporate FD. Let’s check these points to conclude whether corporate FDs are worth your investment or not.
Credit Rating of the Company
Corporate companies who wish to invite investors for fix deposit have to first go for a rating process. There are several rating agencies in India like ICRA, CRISIL, CIBIL, CARE, etc who does the credit rating of the company.
There are several factors that are being taken into consideration while assessing the credit rating of the company. Few of them are:
- Debt to equity ratio of the company
- Liquidity
- A timely serving of financial obligation
- Dividend payout
- Principal to its investors
For example, Standard and Poor’s have assigned an “AAA” rating to HDFC bank in India. HDFC Bank is the first bank in India that has received such a high credit rating.
This rating indicates the highest credit quality and lowest credit risk for the fixed deposit schemes by the companies.
Liquidity
There is a lock-in period in the corporate fixed deposit. This lock-in period determines the liquidity of the product.
Liquidity = How quickly you can withdraw your money
Most of the corporate FDs have a lock-in period of 3 to 6 months. It is advisable not to withdraw money and wait till the maturity date, otherwise you will get lesser interest than that of withdrawal on maturity.
Interest Rates
As I mentioned above, the interest rates offered by the corporate are higher than the regular bank fixed deposits. This is the main reason people are tempted to invest in corporate FD.
Usually, the interest rates are higher by 1% to 2% as compared to the bank FDs. If you find any company is offering a higher interest rate by let’s say 5% to 6% than you should be cautious and should not invest in such fixed deposits. Longer the duration of the investment, higher will be the rate of interest offered on any Company FD.
Premature Withdrawal
The corporate FDs come with a lock-in period of 3-6 months. So you cannot withdraw your money for this period once invested. These companies levy a penalty if you withdraw money before the maturity date. This penalty is usually 25-50 bps.
Ideally, you should not break the fixed deposit until it is a compulsion. You must check the premature withdrawal clause before making your investment decision in the corporate fixed deposit.
Tax Impact
Interest earned through corporate FD is taxable the same as your bank FD. As per the income tax rule, total interest earned up to Rs. 10000 is tax-free. Anything above that is taxable as per your prevailing tax slab.
So, if your cumulative interest earned is higher than Rs. 10000 you will have to pay tax on the interest earned on the fixed deposit.
Cumulative & Non-cumulative FD
There are two types of corporate FD available. One is cumulative wherein the interest earned is reinvested in the FD and investor will get the capital + interest earned at the time of maturity only.
While in non-cumulative FD, there is an option for interest payout on monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly. At the time of maturity, you will get your capital amount back.
The interest rate on cumulative FD is much higher than that of non-cumulative FD as interest paid is again put back into the account and you will get the benefit of compounding.
Security
Money invested anywhere is carrying a certain risk. There is no investment option that is completely risk-free. Even the bank FD is risky as your capital invested in bank FD is insured up to Rs. 500000 only. (earlier this was only Rs. 1 lakh, in Union budget 2020 the insurance limit has increased to 5 Lakhs.
So there is always a risk attached to the investment instrument. But if you have invested in the high rating companies, the chances of risk is reduced.
Bank FD vs Corporate FD
Let’s compare the two types of fixed deposits.
| Bank FD | Corporate FD |
| Offered by Bank | Offered by Corporate Company |
| Lower Interest Rates | Higher Interest Rates |
| Higher FD tenure | Lower FD tenure |
| Low Risk | High Risk |
| Avail loan against FD | Cannot avail loan against FD |
FAQs – Corporate Fixed Deposit
Yes, the interest rates are higher in corporate FD as compared to bank FD
All investment option in India carries a certain amount of risk. Yes, corporate FDs are slightly riskier than bank FD. But if you invest in the high rating company, the risk is lesser.
No, not all corporate companies can offer a fixed deposit.
No, you can not avail loan against your corporate FD.
Yes, few companies are allowing NRIs to invest in corporate FD
Yes, the interest earned is taxable as per your income tax slab. There is a Rs. 10000 interest exempted as per the Income Tax Act.
The company rating is given on the investment paper of the company. Alternatively, you can also check the same on the credit rating agency’s website.