Personal Finance Calculator
Debt-to-Income Ratio Calculator
Measure how much of your income is already committed to repayments — on gross income the way the ratio is usually taught, and on take-home pay the way Indian lenders actually assess it.
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What This Calculator Answers
Straight answer: your debt-to-income ratio is every monthly repayment divided by your monthly income. On ₹1,50,000 gross with ₹50,000 of EMIs and card dues, that is 33% — inside the range most lenders accept, but with the housing portion already at 23% there is less room for a second large loan than the headline suggests.
The calculator reports the ratio two ways because the two matter for different reasons. DTI on gross income is the version taught in personal finance and used for self-assessment. FOIR on take-home pay is what an Indian lender actually computes when it decides how much to lend you.
Method
- Include every fixed repayment. Home, car, personal and education loan EMIs, and the credit card minimum due. Exclude utilities, groceries, insurance premiums and SIPs — those are spending and saving, not debt service.
- Rent is included here. If you are renting rather than servicing a home loan, that outflow behaves like a housing obligation, and lenders assessing a fresh home loan will usually consider it. Some lenders exclude it once the new loan replaces the rent — the note on the tool says so.
- The two denominators are not interchangeable. A ratio of 40% on gross is not 40% on take-home. Quoting one against the other’s threshold is the most common mistake made with this number.
Reading the Number
| DTI on gross income | Commonly read as |
|---|---|
| Up to 20% | Comfortable — little of the income is committed |
| 20% to 36% | Manageable — the range most lenders are content with |
| 36% to 43% | Stretched — further borrowing would be tight |
| Above 43% | High — most lenders would decline additional credit |
These bands are conventions in wide use, not regulation. They are a starting point for a conversation with yourself, not a prediction of what any particular lender will do.
FOIR — What Indian Lenders Actually Use
Indian banks and NBFCs assess a Fixed Obligation to Income Ratio: total fixed obligations divided by net monthly income, expressed as a percentage. Most lenders work to a FOIR in the region of 40% to 60%, and will stretch above that for high-income borrowers with strong credit records. Because the denominator is take-home pay rather than gross, FOIR is always the higher of the two numbers for the same person.
The headroom line converts that into the only figure that matters when you are about to borrow: how much additional EMI you could take on before crossing the ceiling you set. Feed that number into the loan equation converter to see what loan amount it supports, or the loan eligibility calculator to see what a lender would offer.
Bringing the Ratio Down
- Clear the smallest high-rate balance first. Credit card dues carry the highest rate and the smallest balance, so retiring them moves the ratio fastest per rupee.
- Lengthen a tenure rather than default. A longer tenure lowers the EMI and the ratio, at the cost of more total interest — the EMI calculator shows the trade-off in rupees.
- Prepay to cut the EMI, not the tenure, if the goal is specifically to improve the ratio before applying for something else. The prepayment calculator compares both strategies.
- Raise the denominator. A documented increase in income moves the ratio as effectively as reducing debt, and is the only lever that does not cost money.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both, for different purposes. Use gross when comparing yourself against the standard DTI bands. Use net when estimating what a lender will do, because Indian lenders compute FOIR on take-home pay. The calculator shows both so you never have to pick.
No. They are commitments you can pause; debt service is not. Including them understates your borrowing capacity and is not how a lender would assess you. They belong in your expenses, and in the emergency fund calculator.
The minimum due, because that is the contractual monthly obligation. If you are revolving a large balance, the ratio understates the problem — the interest rate on that balance is the more urgent number, and the periodic to annualised converter shows what a monthly card rate really costs a year.
Because take-home pay is smaller than gross. Provident fund, professional tax and income tax come out before the money reaches you, so the same obligations consume a larger share of the smaller number. A gap of ten percentage points or more between the two is normal.
It means little of your income is committed, which is a good position to borrow from. It does not by itself mean you are wealthy or that taking on debt would be wise — that depends on what the borrowing is for. Look at it alongside your net worth.
The concept behind the number
This calculator gives you a figure. These pages give you the idea it comes from, the words on the inputs, and the article that works through the decision.