Axis Bank endorses fixed deposits over risky investments

For ages, Indians have considered fixed deposits as the best investment option. This perception hasn’t changed despite the rise of alternatives like mutual funds. Mutual funds are considered safe, especially with Axis banks, but come with risks like limited regulatory protection, reinvestment risk, and low real returns after taxes and inflation. Now, Axis Bank, with its new advertisement, urges customers to rethink where they invest their money, favouring Fixed Deposits over Mutual Funds.

The Ad Motif

The 83-second ad starts with a fully drenched young girl returning home, who had ignored her father’s advice to carry an umbrella, then a wife who despite being warned, burns her hand on touching a hot vessel, and lastly a boy, who paid no heed to repeated warnings, and ended up getting spectacles due to non-stop TV screen time.

We all have either experienced, heard, or seen a father giving prior advice to his family not to do something, and when they ignore the father’s wake-up call and proceed with the said action, they suffer some unpleasant consequences.

So, a father pleads in Axis Bank’s new ad, “It feels bad, right, when nobody listens to you?”  He uses some familiar commonalities in a family's routine chores to advocate for everyone with fixed deposits (FDs). The father is also seen voicing behind the now popular pop-culture-referenced line: “Investments are subject to risk; read all the documents carefully.”

In the climax of the ad, there’s a snapshot of a market collapse and a newsreader who states that all investments are seeing a downward trend. So, the father and Axis Bank —both are urging viewers to invest in “safe and secure fixed deposits.”

With the growing rise in mutual fund investments over the years, such a message isn’t surprising.

Notable Statistics of Growth in MFs

·   The Economic Times reported that household savings in bank deposits, which stood at 47.6% in 2021, had dropped to 45.2% in 2023.

·   The mutual funds' share in household savings has also increased, from 7.6% in 2021 to 8.4% during the same year.

·   As of FY 2024, mutual fund assets surged by Rs 14 lakh crore or 35% year-on-year, to a record Rs 53.40 lakh crore in FY 2024, as reported by The Hindu Business Line.

Fixed Deposits: Safe investment or risky gamble?

So, without surprise, Axis Bank is reinforcing its outlook on fixed deposits. “Why risk it? Invest a portion of your savings in safe and secure options like Fixed Deposits from Axis Bank,” that is what Axis Bank’s ad description appeals on YouTube.

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