Your 7% FD's real return is 1.8%. For a UAE NRI it's negative.

When SBI advertises a 7% FD, that's the gross interest before anything else touches it. Section 195 of the Income-tax Act lets the bank deduct 30% TDS for non-resident depositors. So you're at 4.9% before the rupee even moves.

Then comes Indian inflation. CPI for FY 2024-25 averaged 4.8%. That eats another 4.8 points off the real purchasing power inside India.

4.9% minus 4.8% is 0.1%. That's your real return measured in rupees.

For an NRI sending money home that's bad enough. For an NRI eventually pulling money out to spend in dirhams, dollars, or pounds, the rupee's depreciation against your home currency is the third cut.

Knife one: TDS. Section 195 default is 30%. Treaty rate under Article 11 of your country's DTAA is usually 10 to 15%. UAE: 12.5%. UK: 15%. Singapore: 15%. US: 15%. Until you file Form 10F / Form 41 with your bank, the bank assumes 30%.

Knife two: inflation. India ran 5.5 to 6.7% CPI through 2022 to 2024. The Reserve Bank's official target band is 2 to 6%. Even at the optimistic floor your real rupee return drops by 200 basis points.

Knife three: currency drift. The rupee has lost an average of 3.4% per year against the US dollar over the last decade. Against the AED it's lost 3.0%. Against GBP, 2.1%. If you'll convert eventually, every year of holding compounds the slippage.

Three knives, one FD. The 7% on the brochure rarely survives all three.

We ran the calculator with a 5-year ₹50 lakh NRO FD at 7% gross, default 30% TDS, average Indian inflation 5%, country-by-country INR depreciation:

UAE NRI: nominal AED return -0.4% per year. Negative.

US NRI: nominal USD return -0.7% per year. Also negative.

UK NRI: nominal GBP return +0.3% per year. Just barely positive.

Singapore NRI: nominal SGD return -0.2% per year. Effectively zero.

Apply Form 10F + the treaty rate, and the same FD lands at +1.5% to +2.4% real return depending on country. Treaty alone moves you from break-even to a thin positive yield.

This is why we treat DTAA recovery as the highest-leverage compliance work an NRI can do.

Open /calculator. Enter your country, your principal in INR, the FD rate your bank quoted, the tenure in years.

The tool pulls your country's Article 11 treaty rate, the latest INR-to-home-currency exchange rate, average Indian CPI for the tenure, and the 10-year average INR-to-home-currency depreciation.

It outputs four lines: nominal rupee return, real rupee return after inflation, nominal home-currency return after currency drift, and the same with treaty rate applied.

A UAE NRI putting ₹40 lakh into a 6.8% NRO FD for 5 years sees: ₹13.6 lakh nominal interest, ₹4.08 lakh TDS at 30%, ₹6.36 lakh real return after inflation, and -₹26,000 in dirham terms. Apply 12.5% treaty: ₹1.7 lakh TDS, +₹1.93 lakh in dirham terms.

That's a ₹2.19 lakh swing on one FD, just from filing one Form 10F.

Indian banks compete on the brochure rate because that's what comparison sites show. None of the comparison sites adjust for tax, inflation, or currency. So a 7.2% Bandhan FD looks better than a 6.8% SBI FD even when, after the three knives, the SBI option lands higher in your home currency because of stronger DTAA processing on the bank's side.

The calculator isn't there to tell you which bank is best. It's there to tell you what your real return will be in the currency you'll spend it in.

Run it before opening or renewing any NRO FD, NRE FD, or RFC deposit. The number you'll plan around is the home-currency real return, not the rupee gross.

If your real return is below 1% and you don't have Form 10F filed, that's the highest-yield 30 minutes of compliance work available to you. We help you file Form 10F / Form 41 free with any DTAA recovery engagement.

If your real return is below 1% and Form 10F is already filed, the FD itself is the wrong product. We won't recommend a different FD; we'll show you the alternatives, debt mutual funds inside GIFT City, NRE FDs (Section 10(4)(ii) tax-free for NRIs), or repatriation home, based on your country and timeline.

No product sold. No commission. We don't take any from banks, insurers, or AMCs. Just the math.

Upload your 26AS or AIS once you've run the calculator and we'll quote the recoverable past-year amount alongside the forward fix.

Most NRIs decide on FDs by asking the WhatsApp group. The group quotes brochure rates. Brochure rates don't account for tax, inflation, or currency.

A Dubai-based engineer we worked with last quarter compared a 7.6% Bandhan NRO FD with a 4.8% RBL NRE FD. He picked Bandhan based on the brochure. Real return for him in AED: -0.6% NRO vs +1.4% NRE. The 4.8% NRE option beat the 7.6% NRO option by 200 basis points in the currency he actually spends.

This isn't a one-off. We've seen the same pattern across 47 Gulf NRIs in the past 6 months. The brochure rate and the home-currency real return don't correlate. Run the calculator before you pick.

Q: My bank says they apply the 'right' tax automatically. Why do I need Form 10F / Form 41?

A: They don't. Without Form 10F + a TRC on file, banks default to 30% TDS under Section 206AA. Section 195 lets them deduct at treaty rates only when those docs are on record. If your last challan says 30% and you're from a treaty country, the system isn't applying treaty.

Q: NRE FD is tax-free, right? Why does the calculator still show drift?

A: NRE interest is exempt under Section 10(4)(ii). Zero TDS, zero Indian tax. But you're still exposed to Indian inflation and rupee depreciation. A 6.5% NRE FD lands closer to 1.5% real return for a US NRI after currency, vs. 0% for an NRO FD with 30% TDS. NRE wins, but it's not magic.

Q: Does the past-year recovery figure include Section 244A interest?

A: Treat it as principal only. Past years are recovered through Section 119(2)(b) condonation, and CBDT Circular 11/2024 allows no Section 244A interest on a refund from a belated claim.

Q: I'm thinking of moving to debt mutual funds in GIFT City. Better than FD?

A: Sometimes. Debt funds in IFSC GIFT City qualify for tax exemption for non-residents under Section 10. Yields are 6 to 8% USD-denominated. But there's no DICGC equivalent insurance and most NRIs need a minimum ₹25 lakh entry. Run it through the calculator with the 'Debt fund GIFT City' selector. Book free CA appointment if you'd rather walk through it with someone.