'I feel fearful': Why a 28-year-old techie is sending a distress call despite earning ₹2 lakh a month
Amidst IT sector layoff anxieties, a 28-year-old techie earning ₹1.9 lakh seeks financial advice due to debts and family responsibilities. Burdened by home, car, and gold loans, along with supporting his parents, he fears losing his gold. Social m...
By ET Online | Updated:
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Amid rising fears of layoffs in India’s IT sector, a 28-year-old techie has turned to social media for financial guidance. Despite drawing a monthly take-home salary of ₹1.9 lakh, he says mounting debts and family responsibilities have left him fearful.
The unmarried tech professional, in a post titled “In debt. I feel fearful”, revealed that he is the sole breadwinner for his family, supporting his parents alongside managing multiple loans.
Breakdown of his financial commitments:
Home Loan: ₹15 lakh with a ₹24,000 EMI over 10 years (2 years completed).
Car Loan: ₹12 lakh with a ₹21,000 EMI over 7 years (3 months completed).
Family Expenses: ₹25,000 for parents, ₹20,000 for treatment, ₹15,000 for personal needs.
He also invests ₹10,000 in SIPs, ₹17,000 in chit funds, and ₹1,500 in a recurring deposit, but admitted that the gold loan is his biggest worry. “This gold loan is making me fearful. I don’t want to lose it. Please guide me to manage my money well,” he wrote.
His post comes at a time when the IT industry is facing turbulence, with TCS recently confirming over 12,000 layoffs and Nasscom warning of further job cuts. Experts caution that such stress in the tech sector, a major employer of India’s youth, could impact household spending and overall consumption.
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Several Redditors offered suggestions. One advised him to sell his car to repay the gold loan. Another urged him to stop investing in chit funds and instead focus entirely on loan repayments.
“Don’t invest while you’re in debt. Returns aren’t promised, but EMIs are. Use the surplus to clear loans quickly,” one commenter wrote.
Others suggested cutting monthly expenses to ₹1.2 lakh, stopping SIPs and chit funds, and using the leftover ₹70,000 per month to repay the gold loan in under 18 months. Another suggested liquidating existing savings or equities to make a lump-sum repayment.
