Dhaka, May 25 -- Time deposits in banks increased by Tk 865.9 billion to Tk 14.82 trillion in July-March period of this fiscal year mainly because of rate rise under uncapped interest regime, sources say.

The upturn began in July when the industry introduced a new benchmark called SMART for bank lending. The change gives a push to both deposit and lending rates.

In June 2023, the growth of the FDR or time deposits was in single-digit territory, and since July till March, it had climbed to a double-digit high.

However, demand deposits, mostly in savings accounts, grew a bit slowly at a single-digit rate to Tk 1.94 trillion during the period under review.

The weighted average interest rate on all deposits in the banking industry stood a...