As banks up interest rates, stick to lower-tenure FDs for the present

Rate increases have only begun; doing so will allow you to reinvest your money at higher rates later

The temperature is falling in many parts of the country, but matters are beginning to heat up on the interest-rate front. On December 1, HDFC Bank hiked the interest rates on its fixed deposits (FDs) by up to 10 basis points (bps) or 0.1 per cent on select tenors. Bajaj Finance, too, announced a hike on select tenors by up to 30 basis points (0.3 per cent) on deposits of up to Rs 5 crore. State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, hiked its base rate, a benchmark lending rate, by 10 basis points (0.1 per cent). Simultaneously,