Amid rising interest rates, a platform that aims to offer FDs, other fixed income products launched

India has a large and growing fintech startup ecosystem, with companies offering a wide range of products from payments, digital banking, to trading, mutual funds, and instant loans. Now, a wealth-tech startup that wants to offer customers a basket of only fixed income products just launched.

While there are digital platforms like Zerodha and Groww that already offer fixed income investment options as part of their wider bouquet of products that include stocks, mutual funds and commodities, Stable Money wants to be a platform only dedicated to fixed income products.

Over the last decade, investing in stocks and mutual funds has gained traction. However, bank deposits still remain among the most preferred savings system for millions of Indians, given their low risk and fixed interest rates. In the year ended March 2023 alone, scheduled commercial banks raised close to Rs 15.8 lakh crore through deposits.

With interest rates rising over the past one year, deposits have been growing. On Stable Money platform, you can compare fixed deposit interest rates across banks and then book the FD that gives you a higher interest rate and manage and track the FD.

A customer can compare FD interest rates from 200 banks on Stable Money. However, only five institutions—Bajaj Finance, Shivalik Small Finance Bank, Shriram Finance, Utkarsh Small Finance Bank and Axis Bank—are currently live on their platform. Essentially, you can book an FD with any one of these banks or NBFCs.

The platform saw a limited soft launch in August 2023 and has garnered more than 50,000 app downloads so far, with around 10,000 FDs booked, according to Harish Reddy, co-founder of Stable Money. He says there are plans to onboard more banks on their platform. "We want to bring in more banks so that whenever interest rates change, you should be able to book your FD with a bank that offers the highest rate."

Stable Money doesn't charge any fee from users. The users will also not be required to have an account with the bank he/she is booking an FD.

The company will, in the near future, launch other fixed income products on its platform like debt mutual funds and bonds.

"This will be a fixed income platform. The reason we started with FDs is that it is simple to understand and interest rates are high. In time, we will have bonds and debt mutual funds," said Reddy.

The company already has secured broking license to do bonds and it aims to apply for a license to sell direct debt mutual funds, added Reddy.

Bengaluru-based Stable Money raised $5 million from investors, including Lightspeed and Matrix Partners, earlier this year.