₹15 lakh Home Loan EMI for 20 Years

The interest number is the one that matters

Borrowers compare EMIs; lenders profit from total interest. On this loan you pay ₹16.24 lakh in interest — effectively buying the ₹15.00 lakh twice over if that figure approaches the principal.

In the early years almost all of the EMI is interest. Look at year 1 in the table: only ₹29,853 of the ₹1,56,208 you pay actually reduces the loan.

Prepayment is where the real money is

Cutting the tenure from 20 to 15 years raises the EMI to ₹14,771 — ₹1,754 more a month — but saves ₹4.65 lakh in interest. That is the single highest-return financial decision available to most borrowers.

If the higher EMI is uncomfortable, pay one extra EMI a year instead. On a floating-rate home loan there is no prepayment penalty for individuals, so every rupee goes straight against the principal.

• Always ask the bank to reduce the TENURE, not the EMI, when you prepay — reducing the EMI keeps you in debt just as long.
• Prepay early. A prepayment in year 2 saves several times what the same amount saves in year 12.
• Check whether the loan is on repo-linked rate; those reprice faster when the RBI cuts.

Tax relief on a home loan

Under the OLD tax regime, Section 24(b) allows up to ₹2 lakh a year of home loan interest against income from a self-occupied property, and Section 80C covers up to ₹1.5 lakh of principal. In year 1 of this loan the interest is roughly ₹1,26,355, so the ₹2 lakh ceiling is not fully used.

Under the NEW regime — the default since FY 2023-24 — neither deduction is available for a self-occupied property. Run both regimes before assuming the loan saves you tax.

Can you afford this EMI?

Most Indian lenders cap total EMIs at 40-50% of net monthly income. An EMI of ₹13,017 therefore usually requires take-home pay of at least ₹32,543 a month, before counting any existing loans.

Keep a separate emergency fund of six EMIs. A loan default damages your CIBIL score for years and is far more expensive than the interest you were trying to save.