The Reserve Bank of India has cut Repo rate by 110 basis points since the beginning of the year (2019). However, the banks have reduced their weighted average lending rates by 29 bps. If you have a floating rate home loan, then this news is not very comforting. This is a very common grievance for… Continue Reading
Union Budget 2019 announced an exclusive tax benefit of Rs 1.5 lacs for loans taken to purchase electric vehicles. Good news for those who plan to purchase electric bike or car in the next few years. The tax benefit is under Section 80EEB. I briefly touched upon the tax benefit in my post on Union… Continue Reading
In July 2019, the National Housing Bank (NHB) directed the Housing Finance Companies to refrain from lending under Interest Subvention Schemes to developers. Under an interest subvention scheme (80:20 scheme or any other nomenclature), you pay 20% of the purchase value upfront and the bank disburses the remaining 80% cost to the builder upfront. The… Continue Reading
The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, presented the final budget for the FY2019-2020 on July 5, 2019. The Interim Budget was present in February this year. The new budget retains the relief offered to the taxpayers and adds a few tax incentives for the taxpayers. At the same time, there will a small section of taxpayers… Continue Reading
In December 2018, RBI had proposed that all fresh floating rate loans from April 1, 2019 must be linked to an external benchmark. The implementation has since been deferred. It is now up to the banks to come up with products linked to an external benchmark. Citibank had launched a home loan product in the… Continue Reading
Income Tax Slabs Remain Unchanged Taxable Income Age < 60 years Taxable Income Senior Citizen (60 <= Age < 80 years) Taxable Income Very Senior Citizen (Age >= 80 years) Rs 2.5 lacs – Rs 5 lacs 5% Rs 3 lacs – Rs 5 lacs 5% Rs 5 lacs – 10 lacs 20% Rs 5… Continue Reading
A common grouse among many loan borrowers is that banks are very keen to hike the interest rates when the rates are moving up in the economy. However, banks are not very prompt to pass on the benefit when the rates are going down. Do you fall in the same category of borrowers? If you do not… Continue Reading
The Budget 2018 was presented on February 1, 2018. The Finance Minister did not propose any changes to the income tax slabs and tax rates. However, much needed relief was granted to senior citizen tax-payers. There were a slew of other relief measures for senior citizens. However, the biggest setback has come to equity investors, where the… Continue Reading
Ministry of Finance and EPFO have been on overdrive to ease partial withdrawal rules from EPF. With “Housing for All by 2022” in mind, there has been significant relaxation in EPF partial withdrawal rules if you want to withdraw to acquire a house. No Need for Multiple Claim Forms In a press release dated February… Continue Reading
To promote affordable housing, the Government had launched Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY) in 2015. Under PMAY, among other schemes, Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Low Income Group (LIG) were to be given interest rate subsidy on their housing loans. The interest subsidy was to be provided under Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) under PMAY. EWS… Continue Reading