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By:

C.S. Krishnamurthy

21 June 2025 at 7:45:51 pm

Let Your SIP Fight Your EMI

When Ramesh bought his first home, he was delighted. The keys were finally in his hand, but another number immediately occupied his mind: the monthly EMI. “Now that I have some money left after paying my EMI, what should I do with it?” he asked his financial adviser. “Or should I start investing? And if I invest, won’t I be carrying a loan unnecessarily?” A home loan can run for 15, 20 or even 25 years, while the desire to become debt-free keeps growing. But does a borrower necessarily have...

Let Your SIP Fight Your EMI

When Ramesh bought his first home, he was delighted. The keys were finally in his hand, but another number immediately occupied his mind: the monthly EMI. “Now that I have some money left after paying my EMI, what should I do with it?” he asked his financial adviser. “Or should I start investing? And if I invest, won’t I be carrying a loan unnecessarily?” A home loan can run for 15, 20 or even 25 years, while the desire to become debt-free keeps growing. But does a borrower necessarily have to choose between repaying the loan faster and investing for the future? What if both could be pursued simultaneously? Could a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) create a corpus that eventually helps reduce or even close the home loan? The idea merits consideration. A SIP is not a magic formula for becoming debt-free, but it can create a second financial track alongside the regular EMI. Two tracks, one objective Consider an illustration. Suppose a borrower takes a home loan of ₹50 lakh at an assumed interest rate of 8.5 pc for 20 years. The EMI would be around ₹43,400.
Instead of putting every available rupee into the loan, the borrower could consider investing ₹10,000 a month through a SIP, provided the household cash flow permits it. At an assumed annualised return of 12 pc, a ₹10,000 monthly SIP could grow to roughly ₹8.24 lakh in five years, ₹23.23 lakh in 10 years, ₹32.22 lakh in 12 years and ₹50.45 lakh in 15 years. While these are not guaranteed returns, the possibility of higher returns is also not ruled out. Meanwhile, the outstanding home loan would gradually decline through EMIs. Over eight to 10 years, the SIP corpus could become substantial enough to give the borrower an additional financial option. The important point is not to decide today exactly when the loan will be closed, but to review the position when the time comes. Why not simply prepay? Prepaying the home loan provides a relatively certain benefit because every rupee of principal repaid reduces future interest outgo, subject to the loan terms and applicable rules. The SIP serves a different purpose. It creates a financial asset and, over the long term, gives the investor an opportunity to participate in the growth potential of financial markets. The decision point comes later The strategy need not have a fixed finish line. After eight to 10 years, the borrower can review the situation rather than mechanically redeeming the SIP. What is the outstanding loan, the investment value and its performance? What are the prevailing market conditions? Is part-prepayment more appropriate than full repayment? These questions can guide the decision. If the corpus has grown sufficiently and circumstances are favourable, the borrower may consider using part of it to reduce the outstanding loan or, if appropriate, redeeming enough to close the loan completely. If the investment is better retained for the long term, there is no compulsion to exit merely because 10 years have passed. The strength of the strategy lies in this flexibility. Think beyond the loan A long-term SIP is not merely a future home-loan repayment fund. It can become a wealth-creation vehicle in its own right. Compounding rewards patience. A disciplined monthly investment held for the long term can help build a corpus for retirement, children’s education, other life goals or financial independence. Thus, while the home loan moves towards closure through the EMI, the investment has the opportunity to grow alongside it. Once the loan is eventually closed, the EMI disappears. Instead of allowing that money to quietly disappear into lifestyle expenses, the borrower can redirect some or all of the former EMI towards investments. A sensible balance This approach is not a universal prescription. Some borrowers may prefer aggressive loan prepayment, while others may find the combination of EMI and SIP more suitable. The SIP amount should also be comfortable. If ₹10,000 strains the monthly budget, start with less. The strategy should strengthen financial security, not create financial pressure. Adequate emergency savings and appropriate insurance should also form part of the overall financial plan. The larger lesson is simple: a home loan need not automatically put wealth creation on hold. With disciplined cash-flow management, a long-term investment approach and periodic reviews, the EMI can continue paying for today’s home while the SIP works towards tomorrow’s financial freedom. In the end, the question need not be, “Loan or investment?” It can be: “How can I use both wisely?” Disclaimer: “Mutual funds are subject to market risks. Read all scheme-related documents carefully.” (The writer is a retired banker and author. Views personal.)

An Entitled Passport to Protest

Writer: Akhilesh Sinha
Akhilesh Sinha
3 days ago
3 min read

The manicured streets of uptown Mumbai’s Bandra and Khar areas have long fostered a peculiar breed of celebrity activism that routinely mistakes the shield of an elite lineage for immunity from national law.


Imran Khan, the nephew of Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, has enjoyed the multi-layered privileges of India’s entertainment aristocracy.

Despite a career defined far more by inherited access than by cinematic triumph, Khan was handed high-profile launches on a silver platter. After debuting in Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, his subsequent screen output quickly laid bare the limits of his range. Critics and audiences alike routinely panned his one-dimensional performances in forgettable commercial misfires like Luck, Kidnap, and Katti Batti. Lacking the dramatic weight or versatility of his contemporaries, Khan eventually drifted away from acting altogether, leaving behind a filmography widely viewed as a textbook case of nepotistic mediocrity over merit.


Yet, this week, Khan’s cocoon of celebrity exceptionalism (and artistic irrelevance) shattered when a Saturday afternoon street protest transformed the former actor into the ultimate poster child for elite hubris and geopolitical ignorance.


The flashpoint occurred on October 10 at Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan, where the activist group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had gathered to orchestrate an aggressive anti-CEC demonstration. Khan marched alongside protestors, treating a highly sensitive domestic political agitation as if it were a casual weekend networking event. When the Mumbai Police swiftly intervened to disperse the unauthorized gathering, Khan was detained. Rather than displaying an ounce of civic sobriety, the actor leaned entirely into performative defiance. From the back of the police van, he flashed a smug victory sign and uploaded a selfie to Instagram with the tone-deaf caption: “Apparently, I am going for a drive.”


But the theatre soon evaporated when the state apparatus applied the actual rule of law. A formal complaint threw the spotlight onto a critical, inconvenient reality that Khan is an American citizen. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, he holds a US passport. While his family ties allowed him to secure an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card and build a lucrative career in the Hindi film industry, he remains, under the absolute text of the constitution, a foreign national.


Acting strictly within the legal framework, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) later issued a definitive “Leave India Notice” to the actor’s residence. Invoking the explicit provisions of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, the central agency called out his blatant violation of visa guidelines. The mandate was absolute: pack your bags and exit the country by October 28. Under long-standing sovereign rules, foreign nationals possess absolutely zero authority to interfere in, agitate against, or participate in the internal political machinery of the Indian Republic.


The swift, stern administrative response exposed a massive fracture within the film fraternity, drawing sharp rebukes from veteran industry voices who refused to coddle the actor’s legal overreach. Speaking out on the brewing scandal, veteran actor Raza Murad delivered a scathing, grounded reality check to the star’s camp:


“Whether it is Imran Khan or anyone else, no foreign national has any business interfering in the internal affairs of our country. I have only just learned that Imran Khan has become a U.S. national; he was an actor here. As a U.S. national, he has no right to participate so actively in the country’s internal affairs or its politics. The Mumbai Police are acting strictly within the legal framework.”


Murad further dismantled the narrative of victimhood being spun by Khan’s defenders, pointing out the procedural fairness already extended to him.


This incident has further laid bare the hollow performativism of Bollywood’s pseudo-liberal contingent, who routinely treat complex national affairs as casual backdrops for personal brand management.


Insulated within luxury enclaves, figures like Khan step onto the street out of sheer entitlement, blissfully ignorant of both local civic sensitivities and basic constitutional laws.


Faced with the hard ceiling of statutory law, Khan’s legal team has scrambled to file an urgent petition before the Bombay High Court. Yet, no amount of high-priced legal manoeuvring can obscure the foundational lesson of this debacle.


While he was better off being away from the proverbial madding crowd, Imran Khan’s ill-advised stunt has now drawn a stark line for the global diaspora, namely that an OCI card is a privilege for cultural and economic connection, and not a license for foreign passport holders to dictate terms on Indian streets.

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