Home Loan EMI
Your monthly instalment, the total interest over the life of the loan, and a year-by-year schedule showing how slowly the principal actually falls.
Compute your EMI live · nothing leaves the page
§1The formula
An EMI (Equated Monthly Instalment) is the fixed payment that exactly retires the loan over n months at monthly rate r:
Each month, interest is charged on the outstanding balance; whatever is left of your EMI after interest goes to principal. That's why the schedule above matters more than the EMI itself.
You repay more in interest than you borrowed. That is normal for a 20-year loan — and it is also why prepayment in early years is so effective.
§2The gotchas
In the first year of the example above, about 80% of every EMI is interest. You barely dent the principal until the back half of the loan — check the year-wise column above.
On floating-rate loans, when the repo rate rises banks usually keep your EMI the same and quietly extend the tenure. A 0.5% hike on a fresh 20-year loan adds roughly 2 years unless you ask for the EMI to be raised instead.
Processing fee (0.25–1%), mandatory property insurance, MODT/stamp charges and login fees all add to the true cost. Compare loans on total outgo, not the headline rate.
Under the old regime, interest up to ₹2 lakh/yr (Section 24b) and principal within the ₹1.5 lakh 80C limit are deductible — an effective rate cut of 1–2% for many borrowers. The new regime offers neither for self-occupied homes.
§3Where rates sit
Home-loan rates cluster tightly because they all float off the same repo rate. As a working map: SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda price prime salaried borrowers (credit score 750+) from roughly 8.0–9.0%; IDFC First, Kotak, Federal and other private banks sit in a similar band; housing-finance companies (LIC HFL, Bajaj HF, PNB Housing) run a shade higher but flex more on documentation. The spread between the best and worst offer for the same borrower is often 0.5–1% — on ₹50 lakh over 20 years that's several lakh of interest, so make two banks compete. Your credit score moves the quoted rate more than the bank's ad does.
§4Related
Planning a part-payment? See the prepayment calculator. Not sure how much you can borrow? Start with eligibility.