Mumbai, Nov. 10: ICICI Home Finance is offering 11.15 per cent — the highest rate in the financial services industry — as it joins a mad scramble for deposits.

The 100 per cent subsidiary of ICICI Bank today stunned the industry with the offer of 11.15 per cent interest payable annually on deposits with maturity tenures of 15, 20 and 30 months.

Senior citizens will get an additional benefit of 0.35 per cent.

The minimum deposit under the scheme will be Rs 5,000 and in multiples of Rs 1,000 thereafter.

In a statement issued today, ICICI Home Finance said the offer was valid for a limited period only.

“In the present market, fixed deposit is one of the most attractive and safest investment options for customers,” the company said.

The highest rate offered by the state-run and private banks is 10.50 per cent.

After the Reserve Bank of India sent out a rate-cut signal by trimming the repo rate to 7.5 per cent on November 1, banks have started reducing their deposit rates by 25-50 basis points.

“ICICI Home Finance is sensing an opportunity here as banks have brought down interest rates on deposits and the retail investor is still apprehensive about investing in stocks and mutual funds,” an analyst said.

The over 60 per cent decline in the sensex during the year is one of the major factors behind the 22 per cent growth rate in time deposits with banks.

Several banks have already announced that they will bring down their interest rates from December 1.

Banks are, therefore, providing customers a three-week window to lock into the existing rates.

ICICI Home Finance said its deposits carried the benefits of safety, trust and returns. These deposits come with AAA and MAAA ratings from credit rating agencies CARE and Icra, respectively. These are the highest credit quality ratings and offer highest safety to its customers.

ICICI Home Finance has annual, cumulative, quarterly and monthly income plans for customers and the terms range from one to seven years.

ICICI Home Finance provides various services to individuals and companies in the real estate sector.

It offers loans for buying land and home, and renovating houses.

The company also offers loans to purchase commercial property and grants loans against existing property.