Can we afford to live in Delhi?

TinTin1976

Hello all,

I have just been offered my dream job working for an Indian children's NGO based in South Delhi. The salary is Rs 35,000 (which works out at about Rs 30-32,000 minus tax). The NGO say they can find me and my wife an apartment for about Rs 8-10,000 near the office.

This means I potentially would be supporting myself and my wife on about Rs 20-24,000 per month (excluding accomodation). Is this possible?

Neither of us want to live the 'high life', but we do want to have a reasonable level of comfort. There is also the possibility we could have a child which would add an additional financial factor to the equation.

This really is my perfect job and I so badly want to do it... but I need to know I can provide for my wife and me at the same time.

What do people think?

Thanks, TinTin

capt_mahajan

First of all, if you have to pay income tax in India out of this, it may take away 20 percent or more of the monthly salary. I strongly advise talk to an indian chartered accountant for what you can do to minimise income tax, if this is the case. There are ways of breaking up the package which reduce liability a bit.

8/10000 means the apartment will be small or not very upmarket. And unfurnished, so you have to consider capital costs.

If you want to live a middle level middle class Indian existence, without any savings out of this, it is doable but not extremely comfortable. Probably not much emergency money at all.

If you want a corporate expat lifestyle, impossible.

If you want an international school education for the child, close to impossible or very difficult out of this money

Though you could do up the house relatively cheaply, except for gadgets and airconditioning , things that will become difficult will be running the airconditioner too much, eating at expensive places except very rarely, travel (international travel is out, of course), maintaining a car....

Medical insurance?


Curious, without going into details, which part of the city is the NGO? Many Delhi members will tell you what kind of accomodation they are looking at at 8/10k


Frankly, this worries me

A reasonable level of Western comfort is not available at 35000 rupees a month in Delhi, before accomodation and taxes, in my view.

The best thing would be, given it is a dream, to land up in India and see what living here entails for a while.

Btw, you won't starve, far from it. But comforts may be limited, depending on expectations.

wsminkapila

I totally agree with Captain Mahajan... Very well answered...

You may do a small research of the total costs involved per month for all the expenses. You might have to compromise here and there for certain amenities. Look out for what's best for you. Probably, you can try to figure out an amount "How much would a reasonable cost of living for me in Delhi would cost??"

A breakdown of all your obvious expenses per month would give you a much better picture of the worth of your net salary drawn from your employer.

Do not forget to get in touch with a Chartered Accountant as mentioned by Mr. Mahajan above.

Thanks.

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himmat01

Is 37K plus company provided acco sufficent for a family of 3 in DEL?

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sam_ester

Dear Tintin,
What is your "reasonable level of comfort" in the UK?

If that means CAR + Air Conditioning + Eating out Once in a while(for TWO) + Air Travel(within india), then I am afraid 30,000 INR wont suffice.

I believe, a salary of 50,000 should give you the level of comfort you might be seeking.. Just negotiate, or look out for part-time work (I remember being offered a part-time job as an "Accent Trainer" in a delhi call-centre two years back, even though i was not on any employment visa.. and I guess that Accent trainer should be in demand even now, with so much outsourcing of American Tele-Calling jobs to India)

Is your wife looking to work too?.. Part-time or full-time (without Employment Visa?)..
regs,
Sam.

robinsparrow

It would be hard to live on this amount----not impossible but hard. Let us hear further from you on your decision, TinTin

karuna

Firstly, congratulations OP on the job, I'm very jealous! Won't you tell me how you got it...?

Would that work, with it being an NGO? Charity jobs are kind of by their nature not highly paid.

There are some international charities, for example Oxfam, which appear to pay Western salaries in India- check out their current vacancy for a Regional Human Resources Manager in Delhi. £24k for regional responsibility is low for the UK, but translates into 1.5 lakh per month in India! I could cope with that.

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TinTin1976

Thanks all for your honest responses. Still haven't made a decision, but if we do go my wife would also work and we'd have a pot of money to subsidise flights back to the UK, emergencies etc. So let's wait and see...