Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) was launched in 2015 to provide affordable housing to poor and middle-class families. The revamped PMAY-U 2.0 was launched in 2024, and the scope was expanded to construct, purchase, or rent a house in cities. PMAY-U 2.0 has 4 main verticals. Beneficiary led construction (BLC) Affordable housing in partnership (AHP)… Continue Reading
You have been working for 10-15 years. You kept applying for various credit cards over the years depending on your expense preferences at a particular time. As a result, you have accumulated too many credit cards. You do not even use all the cards. You have not used some of them for a couple of… Continue Reading
The Reserve Bank has revised the priority sector lending eligibility for housing loans vide its Master Directions on Priority Sector Lending, 2025. As a prospective home loan borrower, how does it affect you? What is Priority Sector Lending? Priority Sector Lending (PSL) is an RBI policy to encourage banks to lend to certain key sections… Continue Reading
Budget 2025 has made the New Tax regime more attractive, but we know that the new tax regime comes with certain restrictions. You do not get tax deduction for investments under Section 80C, specific expenses (health insurance under Section 80D, house rent/HRA) and loan repayments (home loan and education loan). Hence, as a taxpayer, you… Continue Reading
Recently, we reviewed a Fixed Deposit backed credit card from ICICI Bank (ICICI Bank Instant Platinum First Credit Card). Such credit cards are useful for first-time borrowers who are struggling to get their first credit cards because of adverse or lack of credit history. You can use such cards to build or improve your credit… Continue Reading
If you file returns under the new tax regime, if your annual income is up to Rs 12 lacs, then you do not have to pay any taxes. That is a major concession. Now, assuming you are retired, and your only source of income is house rent, you can earn a fair amount of rental… Continue Reading
The Union Budget 2025 brought huge relief to middle class taxpayers by changing tax slabs and reducing tax rates. Further, the income up to Rs 12 lacs was made tax-free through rebate under Section 87A. Amidst this excitement, you may have missed an important change for taxpayers with multiple houses. In this post, let us… Continue Reading
Given the prices of houses in our country, almost everyone must take a home loan to purchase their dream house. It is not that all buyers lack the capacity to buy a house out of their own funds. However, from what I have been, as the income (affordability) rises, so does the desire for a… Continue Reading
Looking for your first credit card, but your card application keeps getting rejected due to inadequate credit history or some other reason? There is a simple and quick way to get around this problem if you have some money in your bank account. I am talking about a bank FD backed credit card. And in this… Continue Reading
On a recent visit to Reliance Smart Bazaar, a credit card executive aggressively pitched Reliance SBI Prime Card. He mentioned the card offered a 20% instant discount on purchases at the store. Well, this offer was obviously too good to be true. At grocery stores/supermarkets where the margins are wafer-thin, 20% discount was clearly not… Continue Reading