I have ₹10–15 lakh sitting in my savings account. Should I move it somewhere else?

Published 19 September 2026

Mohit from Coimbatore
We keep around ₹10–15 lakh liquid in a bank savings account. We need some of it for safety and near-term expenses, but is there a more efficient way to hold this money?
Sachin Kabra Sachin Kabra ex-Director HDFC Private Wealth, Business Head Motilal Oswal AMC LinkedIn
The first step is to separate money that genuinely needs to remain immediately available from money that is merely sitting idle because no decision has been made about it.

A family should still maintain adequate emergency liquidity and money required for near-term expenses.

But if a portion of the ₹10–15 lakh is unlikely to be needed immediately, the advisory discussion suggested looking at alternatives such as liquid mutual funds or arbitrage funds rather than leaving the entire amount in a savings account.

The reason is not simply to chase a higher headline return.

The comparison should be based on the post-tax outcome, liquidity and the role of that money in the overall financial plan.

The same broader review can also include tax-management opportunities elsewhere in the portfolio, such as tax-loss or tax-gain harvesting where appropriate.

Cash should have a purpose: emergency liquidity, a near-term goal, or a deliberate low-risk allocation. Money that has no defined purpose can often be managed more efficiently.

So the decision is less “savings account versus fund” and more “how much liquidity do I actually need, and what is the most efficient place for the remaining low-risk money?”

This is not personalized investment advice. Liquidity needs, taxation and the risk characteristics of any alternative should be reviewed before moving emergency or near-term money.
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