We want it that way

Even if one earns a package of Rs 4 lakh per annum, it's quite a challenge to manage his/her budget, especially in metro cities

We want it that way

Even if one earns a package of Rs 4 lakh per annum, it's quite a challenge to manage his/her budget, especially in metro cities. I know many young professionals who've started their career in tier one cities, and they won't differ on this, I'm sure. Let's get to brass tacks.

First of all, he/she would need a house to live, either on rent, or self-owned. At this salary, owning a house is a distant dream, so a rented accommodation at say a cost of Rs 10,000 per month is as far as it can go. Only someone with an annual package of Rs 8 lakh or above can think of owning a house in a city such as ours.

Reason: if one calculates the EMI (Easy Monthly Installment) on a house costing 25 lakh (the lowest imaginable amount), it comes anywhere between Rs 15,000 to 20,000.

Although the government claims that inflation is at an all-time low, and has broken a 34-year-old record, it may be all but an eyewash. The inflation index has been changed, and now it has virtually turned into deflation. But the irony is that rate-lists of all essential commodities have soared sky high, and the common man is forced to spend not less than double the amount he/she dished out for the same thing, till a year or two back. No kitchen fires can be sustained below Rs 10,000.u00a0

We have recently faced a painful hike of almost 30 per cent in school fees, and not to forget, a sharp rise in petroleum prices. Newly-weds, too, are unable to manage future savings, even though they don't have many liabilities. Most of them are forced to live in a virtually watertight compartment with their backs against the wall, even as it caves in with all the burden that awaits them.

But then, great expectations beckon. Young pros who took the pain to vote for a stable government want Pranab Da to restore their financial stability. They are hoping for a basic exemption (read standard deduction) of Rs 300,000 from the present Rs 1,50,000. Moreover, they hope for relief in the form of a hiked income-tax exemption for interest payment on home loans, of at least up to Rs 3 lakh a year.

At present, taxpayers who've taken housing loans are eligible for an exemption on interest payment of up to Rs 1,50,000 every year. Besides, the repayment of principal amount is part of the investments eligible for benefit under Section 80(C) of the Income-Tax Act, which has a ceiling of Rs 1 lakh.

Like home loans, the youth also awaits tax exemption on car loans. And that's not all. Employment opportunities have been hit hard by the slowdown, making them cringe at the crunch. Today will tell if the government finally gives them a reason to let their hair down.