People often recommend fixed deposits for long-term savings, especially to those who are averse to financial risks. Multiple generations have benefited from doing so: keeping aside a large or relatively large amount for a longer period to use for bigger spending in years to come, say for marriage, buying a house, or post-retirement.
(Disclaimer: Entrackr doesn’t recommend any financial investment choices or modes to people).
That being said, one of the common practices with fixed deposits is that people set aside money in the same bank they have in their accounts. This may be due to ease of use, trust, or ignorance about better alternatives. Not a lot of people know that they can set up an FD at a bank account without needing to open a savings account there.
Mumbai-based Fixed, which describes itself as a bank-tech firm, is catering to those people who want to get the best returns from a safer format of savings: fixed deposit.
Launched in 2023 by Akshar Shah, Fixed is an FD marketplace for retail investors. The platform, available on WhatsApp for now, allows users to see the best returns on FD in different banks and also facilitates a deposit.
“At Fixed, we are solving this by bridging the gap between customers looking for a higher return and banks/corporates looking to raise liabilities at low cost,” Shah told Entrackr.
“By providing access to compare and invest across banks and corporates we are unlocking the potential of earning higher returns to clients across safe investments without any fees, paperwork, or opening a new account,” he added.
A retail customer needs to text a certain number provided by Fixed. Similar to interactive WhatsApp bots, users can explore the best-fixed deposit rates for their investments from its partner banks, which includes Shriram Finance, Jana SFB, Bajaj Finance, and DCB Bank, among others.
It also personalizes the information based on what a customer may be looking for. For instance, it suggested DCB Bank is giving 8% interest on 700 days to 23 months of savings, which is roughly 0.90% higher than ICICI Bank’s rates on FD.
Interestingly, Fixed also gives cashback on investing through its platform.
Shah explains the company’s business model – “For every transaction and every volume that we move for the bank, for the corporate, we get a certain percentage of what we have built for them. In essence, what we are doing for them is reducing their customer acquisition cost.”
Since the launch, Fixed has helped as many as 75 FDs through its platform. The asset under management is in “double-digit crores”, Shah added. There have been more than 1,500 conversations via its WhatsApp platform. The founder added that the company has achieved all this, in just two months of the launch and without any spending on marketing or advertising.
The immediate target for Fixed is to launch a dedicated mobile application. “This is when and where we will scale user growth, AUMs, and other elements,” the founder added. There will be more partnerships with the banks in the future. As of now, Fixed works with eight financial institutions, including Bajaj Finance, Equitas Small Finance Bank, and Shriram Finance.
Shah says, “The company will be happy to collaborate with the industry stakeholders to roll out Fixed-like solutions.” He also said the startup aims to build and launch similar services for mutual funds and other investment vehicles.
Even as Fixed is still at an early stage, there are quite a few aggregators online that allow people to do basic browsing of FD rates. For instance, it may face competition from the likes of PolicyBazaar, which already deals in the insurance space.
