A fixed deposit (FD) is a financial instrument provided by Indian banks which provides investors with a higher rate of interest than a regular savings account, until the given maturity date .
It may or may not require the creation of a separate account. It is known as a Term Deposit in the Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US and as Bond in United Kingdom they are considered to be very safe investments. Term Deposits in India is used to denote a larger class of investments with varying levels of liquidity.