again about moving to bangalore

avenirv

hi guys !

i am very new so i cannot email anyone of you.
i have the same old question but i'll try to be richer in details.
i am an independent IT contractor in canada (i am working in IT for many many years, > 30), me and my wife are in our late 50ies, empty nesters. we like travelling. no mortgage, no loans, no debt. kid is grown up, graduated and doing , thank's God, very well.
so, i have a preliminary offer for a job in IT with a big indian company in bangalore. found it over the internet, so i am not an expat sent by a foreign company, i'll be paid indian salary.
their 1st offer is 20 lakhs/year BEFORE taxes. i do not know its structure.

this is us:
-we intend to be there for 6/12 months or if we really enjoy longer using india as a base for asia
-we do not intend to drive in india.
-we want to visit all the southern india - cities, temples, palaces, etc (no lakes, no zoos, no safari, no beaches) - during these 6 first months or stay 1 year maybe. the northern india wonders we intend to visit at the end of this period as tourists. this means we will rent car+driver or use the tours over weekends.
-we were told not to use the public transportation in india/bangalore (no insult), so my wife will use taxicabs to go/return from the places she will go in bangalore (she will have a lot of time)-my wife doesn't work; as myself that is not a problem.
-we need a furnished 1 bedroom apartment (1 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 living-dining room, 1 kitchen - living+kitchen may be open concept too);
-we want to have tv+cable/satellite, internet, electricity, A/C (if needed), kitchen furnished with what is needed for elementary cooking, clean secured apartment.
-my wife doesn't eat ethnic food unless she prepares it herself or is prepared by a known friend; she cooks; she eats vegetables, beef, lamb, chicken, rice, pasta, macarony, milk products - a lot of cheese, aso. she likes cleanless.
-i work as hard as required
-we want to cover our in-and-out flights from the salary (i do not mean the employer to pay for it, if he pays better)
-we do not have a tremendous glamorous life; we travel a lot and meet friends in our or their dwellings (now we understand that in bangalore we will not have our friends with us)
-i do not smoke, do not drink with the exception of a couple of glasses of wine or liquor a week; or a couple of beers
-we had traveled the USA and europe, even a piece of south america

we know that the amount of expenses depends on the lifestyle but i think i described our lifestyle.
i am sure you already guess the question(s):

1)can we do this with that amount of money ?
2)what can us and the emnployer do to maximize after tax hometake; special structure for the salary ?
3)for this lifestyle is there any breakdown of expenses ?
4)curiosity: if we can do the travels, will anything remain in our hands from the income we'll receive in bangalore ?

we didn't decide yet.

i talked with about 10 people of indian origin (they are in canada, usa and europe) even with ibm india employees working now for a couple of months in these areas.
everybody's 1st reaction was "you will live like a king". then i asked them to think again and analyze our intentions and lifestyle. they started then to have some doubts, even saying it will not be possible or will be a little difficult.

thank you in advance for your clarifying answers.
i tried to contact some of you, especially the most pesimistic ones but i cannot access the contact information. i can be contacted at the same userid at hotmail or yahoo.

avenirv

i am sorry i forgot to mention: we do not want to share anything in the 1 bedroom apartment.

Raghu.Kumar

Hi Avenirv,

To reply to your query, you can lead a good lifestyle with the said compensation of 20 Lakhs. You should be getting about 1 lakh in hand after deduction of Income tax and statutory deductions like Provident Fund, Gratuity etc.

Assuming you take up a furnished 1 bedroom/2 bedroom apartment for 20 K, EB charges / maintainance another 5 K. You would have 75 K remaining. Assuming you spend a lot on Meat, fruits and vegetables, your grocery bill would not exceed 10 K.

Keep aside another 15 k towards miscellaneous expenses. The balance of 50K ( 1000 USD ) is totally at your disposal for either travel or for savings.

Even if you spend about 25 every month towards travel, you can save 25 K and in an years time would hav 3 lakhs INR which would be sufficent for you to take your flight back home or even another, add on International Holiday.

In my opinion, given your lifestyle Preferences, its still doable and You should take up this opporutnity if you like the job and the idea of coming to India.

Do check if the company would provide medical insurance. If yes, nothing like it.

Best Wishes.

Raghu

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S.Raghu Kumar
sahana_kumar@yahoo.com

nycank

If what raghu says is true about tax withholding; I doubt you can do all you want to do while in India w.r.t. to traveling. 42KUSD/yr is not much given the level of witholdings.

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bade bhaisaheb is outsourced

avenirv

thank you very much.
so the 1st positive comment.

avenirv

Raghu said i can do it with our lifestyle.
you say NOT. can you explain why ? please, do not feel insulted but i need to see all teh sides to decide.

Raghu.Kumar

Hi Avenirv,

I have tentatively allocated 25000 INR ( 500 USD ) towards the travel expenses every month. Since your primary goal would be to cover South India first and Bangalore is not very far off. More over there are many budget hotels in the range of 2000/2500 INR per day. Even if you spend 10000 on a four day trip on accommodation there is another 15000 to cover for tranpsort and food.

There are India Mike members like Synoymous who have travelled the length and breadth of India and might be be able to give accurate information than myself due to their personal experiences. Lets await responses from Synoymous and other frequent travellers to give their comments as I may be wrong too unless I am missing something here.

Raghu

avenirv

you are the one with the positive answer. i do not think we will go on longer trips for southern india (when i say southern india i mean areas in a radius of 500 km from bangalore; for instance goa). we intend to travel as much as possible over the weekends reaching points doable over weekends. if there is any type of longer weekend (holidays when the company doesn't work then we'll try for more days).
thank you again.

snonymous

Raghu,
Im honoured that you consider me fit to answer this query but the truth is I have not travelled the L&B of India. I have also never lived in and have no idea about the cost of living in Bangalore, let alone a major cost component which would be the deposit to be paid on the rented house. In Mumbai, this would be hefty, running into a few lakhs depending on location, amenities etc.

As far as tax goes, deduct approx. 33% from the gross salary which leaves you roughly with just over Rs 1 lac per month, as Raghu estimates. From that, deduct rent [no idea about BLR], monthly maintenance - utilities / servants salaries / daily transportation - again no idea about BLR / say 20K for monthly food bills for 2 with minimal entertaining.

Local touring to nearby destinations can be done on a budget say a maximum of 10-15K for a 3-4 day trip, even less if you plan wisely. Have a look at some of PM Velu's posts for cost effective holiday planning.

Suggest you contact some Bangalore based members to get a better picture.

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My Flickr photos at http://www.flickr.com/groups/snonymous/

Raghu.Kumar

Thank You Synonymous,

I guess you are being too modest.Your travelpod itself shows the amount of travel you have done. Any ways what i wanted you to tell , is about the travel cost for a 3/4 day trip. I have mentioned 25 K , but you have indicated around 15 k. Which means they can travel atleast on three weekends or alternate weekends within the 25 k and still save some money.



Raghu