There are different choices that are available to an investor when it comes to receiving the interest on the fixed deposit.
The basic choice that needs to be made is whether the interest should be paid out.
If the pay out choice is exercised then at a specified time period the interest earned till that period is given to the investor.
The other choice is to accumulate the interest that is earned on the fixed deposit.
In this case the interest would be received by the investor only at the time of maturity of the fixed deposit along with the return of the capital.