r2i forum

For few weeks I have been lurking around in this forum, reading the various postings.

My situation is such, we are planning to R2I in 2011. My daughter will be 5 yrs old, we may have the USC by that time. So, we figure, it would be the best time to move back. We will not be going back to our home towns but, will be settling down in a city.

I have been trying to figure the expenses that we will incur in India. It is funny, never thought for a sec before coming to US.

I have tried to come up with an Income and Expense Excel sheet to figure out how much money a family of 3, an IT husband, non-IT wife and a 5 year old will be able to save in a month.

It would be nice to get some comments. I will modify it based on your comments.

I think internet costs much more than 200Rs. say 1000Rs?

Just a small correction.
Expenses are summed up to B45 only.. It should be till B46.
That is the reason I prefer putting totals at the end.. less chances of errors..

OP,
while your food,house and Misc are quite on target ..some other expenses is very off ...many things are of course subjective ..such as school fee, exta-curricular, clubs-gyms,vacations .. I would just point out some common expenses (in the middle not very high end..)

electricity - much higher ..I would say at least 5000 for 2 ACs in summer and two heaters/gysers in winter

Cable - will be higher too (300 for one connection.. and more )

Medical visits - one trip for simple thing is 500..~350 consultation + medicines (not including any lab tests)..be prepared for many minor poblems ..stomach related and cold-cough-allergy very common.

Personal care - 2000 (exclude clothes here) ..three hair cuts and some pedicure-sedicure will cost 2000.

internet - at least 1000 (broadband)

petrol - depends on your lifestyle ..but once a week fueling will cost 4000.



Expenses are out of control..my biggest shock after coming here. And the Indian society is very status minded.

Thank you for your comments. I have modified the Excel sheet to reflect some of the comments made here. Hopefully, we can get some more folks to comment on it.

Man!!! the figures look very frightening.:emcrook:


r2iedhappy, you are the second person in this week who has mentioned that the Indian society is very status minded. When I left India, I was in my early 20?s. I couldn?t care less what my neighbors thought about me or my family. But now I am going to return as a ?family man?. I guess I need to keep that in mind now.

Wow, wonder what those single income, government job holding heads of the household do in India!? :emsmilep:

Here are my opinions:
1. You must have a paid off home before returning
2. Try driving by yourself (Only busy businessmen, elderly people and sissy
types should have a driver...just my opinion)
3. Rs 2000 for 3 haircuts and a pedicure??? Thats more expensive than the
US!!! In India beauty parlours are at every nook and corner and paying
anything above Rs 100 for man's haircut is outrageous/frivolus
4. Spending Rs 4000.00 at restaurents every month??? Start saving huge
money for your medical bills at old age. We don't spend $500.00 per month
in dining out in the US do we? Indian restaurant food is VERY DANGEROUS
for your health so eat daal, roti and boiled chicken at home
everyday.
5. 2 ACs at home constantly running??? If you are in Pune or Bangalore, buy 1
cheap AC and run that only occasionally.
6. Rs 3000 per month for phones? Trust me, its much cheaper than that after
first few months.
7. Expenses on petrol will be somewhat higher as you will have to keep AC
running and pleasure trips will abound in first few months (I used to spend
close to rs 4000)
8. Vacations and trips within India will cost you more. A single AC 3 tier ticket
is around to rs 1000 and if you are planning to visit your native place once a
month, it will cost you Rs 6000 per trip for 3 people just in tickets.
9. I don't beleive that Doctors charge Rs 500 from each patient. I rarely paid
more than Rs 100 for a good Doctor. However, a pregnacy in a good
hospital will cost you Rs 60,000.00 (sometimes covered by your insurance)
so I have to assume that a minor surgery will cost you.

The rule of thumb I used in my stay in India: If it sounds very expensive, its not for you. I never heard a desi lamenting how expensive 5 star hotels in the US are or how expensive the chauffers are, or how expensive buying art has become. So go for only things that seem cheap to you. To me Wagon R was a cheap car and a house for 40 Lakhs was cheap so I bought it. Whats the point in buying 1 Crore house if it feels too expensive? Can you enjoy the availability of a driver if you think that he charges too much? Can you enjoy the AC if you think that electric charges are too high? Whats the point in getting rs 1000 haircut if it sounds expensive to you. Whats the point in drinking in a five star hotel if you are doing maths in your head? I avoid anything that doesn't seem cheap to me. One should be able to save at least 50% of his income to be called rich. If most of your income is being spent in 'necessities' then you are very poor. Just my opinion.

USReturnee;47516For few weeks I have been lurking around in this forum, reading the various postings.

My situation is such, we are planning to R2I in 2011. My daughter will be 5 yrs old, we may have the USC by that time. So, we figure, it would be the best time to move back. We will not be going back to our home towns but, will be settling down in a city.

I have been trying to figure the expenses that we will incur in India. It is funny, never thought for a sec before coming to US.

I have tried to come up with an Income and Expense Excel sheet to figure out how much money a family of 3, an IT husband, non-IT wife and a 5 year old will be able to save in a month.

It would be nice to get some comments. I will modify it based on your comments.

OP: Your personal expenses and grocery expenses are way out of what it would actually cost.

We R2Ied in January to a Tier-2 City (you can guess the city from my ID). My wife is a "full-time Mom" and we have two children (ages 5 and 3).

Here are our actual expenses:

Groceries: At most Rs.5,000 per month

Dining Out: At most Rs.2,000 per month (Most outings are less than $10 each)

New Clothes: Rs.5,000 per month??. We spend less than 1,000 per month (on an annualized basis)

House Maintenance: We are renting now so no maintenance. But expect it to be less than 1000 per month

Electricity: We have two ACs and they run an average of 10 hours per day. Electric bill per month is about 2,500. (and my wife thinks that is expensive)

School Fees: 4,000 per month. I guess it depends on what kind of school you want your kid to go to. In our case, it is about Rs.900 per month (annualized)
Obviously the school is not Air-conditioned and does not have an arrogant "Take it or leave it" attitude and it certainly is not the kind of school where every R2I dreams of sending their kids. But it meets our requirements. We have actually got admission into the "Most Wanted" school in our city but then didn't like it at all during the admission process itself and then switched to our current school. We are glad we did.

Newspaper/Magazines: Newspapers cost about Rs.100 per month. Do you really want to subscribe to other magazines at Rs.900 per month. I read most of my magazines for free on the Internet.

Personal Care: Again, it is personal so you could be at a different level than where we were. Our haircut/beauty parlor expenses are less than Rs.100 each (so, let us say Rs.500 per month)

Eeentertainment and Misc: You certainly will not have Rs.7,000 per month (in current terms in a Tier-2 City).

In our city, excluding our housing costs, I can say that we can live comfortably well with only Rs.40,000 per month.

Each one of us are different. We try not to show off as a "Rich R2Ied" personality. We bought a Maruti Zen and a moped only. We actively avoid any unwanted attention as to where we came from but the word gets out pretty quickly.

mn_op;47671Here are my opinions:
1. You must have a paid off home before returning
2. Try driving by yourself (Only busy businessmen, elderly people and sissy
types should have a driver...just my opinion)
3. Rs 2000 for 3 haircuts and a pedicure??? Thats more expensive than the
US!!! In India beauty parlours are at every nook and corner and paying
anything above Rs 100 for man's haircut is outrageous/frivolus
4. Spending Rs 4000.00 at restaurents every month??? Start saving huge
money for your medical bills at old age. We don't spend $500.00 per month
in dining out in the US do we? Indian restaurant food is VERY DANGEROUS
for your health so eat daal, roti and boiled chicken at home
everyday.
5. 2 ACs at home constantly running??? If you are in Pune or Bangalore, buy 1
cheap AC and run that only occasionally.
6. Rs 3000 per month for phones? Trust me, its much cheaper than that after
first few months.
7. Expenses on petrol will be somewhat higher as you will have to keep AC
running and pleasure trips will abound in first few months (I used to spend
close to rs 4000)
8. Vacations and trips within India will cost you more. A single AC 3 tier ticket
is around to rs 1000 and if you are planning to visit your native place once a
month, it will cost you Rs 6000 per trip for 3 people just in tickets.
9. I don't beleive that Doctors charge Rs 500 from each patient. I rarely paid
more than Rs 100 for a good Doctor. However, a pregnacy in a good
hospital will cost you Rs 60,000.00 (sometimes covered by your insurance)
so I have to assume that a minor surgery will cost you.

The rule of thumb I used in my stay in India: If it sounds very expensive, its not for you. I never heard a desi lamenting how expensive 5 star hotels in the US are or how expensive the chauffers are, or how expensive buying art has become. So go for only things that seem cheap to you. To me Wagon R was a cheap car and a house for 40 Lakhs was cheap so I bought it. Whats the point in buying 1 Crore house if it feels too expensive? Can you enjoy the availability of a driver if you think that he charges too much? Can you enjoy the AC if you think that electric charges are too high? Whats the point in getting rs 1000 haircut if it sounds expensive to you. Whats the point in drinking in a five star hotel if you are doing maths in your head? I avoid anything that doesn't seem cheap to me. One should be able to save at least 50% of his income to be called rich. If most of your income is being spent in 'necessities' then you are very poor. Just my opinion.

Completely agree with you. In our 9 months after R2I we never felt the need (or desire) to dine out at our 5-star hotels. They just felt too expensive and a "waste of money".

On my recent visits to India here are the details i have gathered on monthly expenses. This is for NCR.
These details are specific to me, a family of 4.

Monthly Expenses

Parking: 500
Fuel: 6000
Driver: 4000


House Lease: 18000 (for 3 Br)
Elect Bill: 4000
Ph/Intr/Cbl: 4000
Grocery: 9000 ------(milk/veg/fruits/juice/other grocery)
Resturant: 4000 ------(Eat out)
Iron/Laundry: 500
Maid: 1000

Drug: 1000
Cloths: 2000
Stationary: 500
BankFee: 500

Total: 55000
Misc: 5000 (Other Exp)

MONTHLY GRAND TOTAL: 60000


Other Yearly expenses

School fee: 120000
Car Ins: 20000
Car Maint: 10000
School Exp: 10000 (Books, Dress etc)
Vacation India: 30000

Total: 190000
Misc: 35000

YEARLY GRAND TOTAL: 225000 (17K per Month)



I feel 70 - 75K can lead to very comfortable living in India.