See the EMI. Then see what the loan actually costs.

Understanding your EMI

An EMI is a fixed monthly payment that covers both interest on what you still owe and a slice of the principal. The amount stays the same every month; the split inside it does not. Early on, most of your payment is interest. Later, most of it is principal. That single fact drives almost every decision worth making about a loan.

The formula

• P — principal, the amount actually disbursed to you.
• r — monthly interest rate: annual rate ÷ 12 ÷ 100. A 9% loan means r = 0.0075.
• n — number of monthly instalments: years × 12.

Lenders round the EMI to the nearest rupee and adjust the last instalment so the balance closes at exactly zero. This calculator does the same, which is why total repayment isn't simply EMI × n — it is the sum of every actual instalment.

Tenure: the trade you're actually making

Stretching the tenure lowers the EMI and raises the total cost, and the second effect is much larger than most people expect. On ₹30 lakh at 8.6%:

• 15 years — EMI around ₹29,700, total interest around ₹23.4 lakh.
• 20 years — EMI around ₹26,200, total interest around ₹32.9 lakh.
• 30 years — EMI around ₹23,300, total interest around ₹53.8 lakh.

Ten extra years buys you roughly ₹2,900 a month of breathing room and costs roughly ₹21 lakh. Whether that's worth it depends on what else the money does — but it should be a decision, not a default. Change the tenure above and watch the interest figure move.

Why prepaying early beats prepaying late

Interest is charged on the outstanding balance. A prepayment permanently removes principal, so every remaining month is calculated on a smaller number. Make it in year two and the saving compounds across 18 remaining years; make it in year eighteen and there's almost nothing left to save.

Two ways to do it, both modelled above: a small amount added to every EMI, or a lump sum from a bonus. Round-up prepayment — paying ₹30,000 on a ₹26,200 EMI — is the quietest way to cut years off a home loan.

Two things to check with your lender first: floating-rate home loans to individuals generally cannot carry a prepayment penalty under RBI rules, but fixed-rate loans and many personal loans can. And ask whether the prepayment reduces your tenure or your EMI — reducing tenure saves far more interest, but it is often not the default.

Reading the schedule

Open the year rows above. In year one of a 20-year home loan, roughly 80% of everything you pay is interest. The crossover — the month where principal finally exceeds interest — usually lands somewhere past the halfway mark. Knowing where you are on that curve tells you how much a prepayment is still worth.

Frequently asked questions

Is the interest rate in India monthly or annual?

Always quoted annually, as "% p.a." For the EMI it is divided by 12 to get the monthly rate and applied to the outstanding balance each month. That's the monthly reducing balance method, standard for retail loans across Indian banks and NBFCs.

Does this handle floating rate loans?

It assumes one fixed rate for the whole tenure. Repo-linked home loans reset whenever the benchmark moves, so treat this as a baseline and recalculate after each revision. When the rate rises, most lenders extend your tenure rather than raise the EMI — worth checking which one yours does.

Why is my bank's EMI a few rupees different?

Usually the broken-period interest between the disbursal date and your first EMI date, which this calculator doesn't model. Bundled insurance premiums added to the loan amount, and different rounding conventions, account for the rest.

Should the processing fee be part of my comparison?

Yes. A lower rate with a heavy fee can cost more than a slightly higher rate with none, especially on shorter tenures. The fee is shown separately above and included in total outgo so you can compare two offers honestly. Also check for legal, valuation, documentation and MODT charges, which sit outside the advertised fee.

How much loan can I get on my salary?

Most lenders keep total EMIs under about 40–50% of net monthly income, and home loans typically fund 75–90% of the property value depending on the ticket size. Work backwards: take the EMI you can comfortably carry, then adjust the amount above until the calculator matches it.

Is anything I enter saved?

No. Every calculation runs in your browser. No amount, rate or figure is sent to a server, and closing the tab clears it.