Some Useful Financial Information and Calculators For Planning Your Loans and Pensions in India!

The following gives some useful links that may help people from Indian who are reasonably tech savvy to quickly ascertain their financial standings and to take informed decisions on availing home loans, personal loans, car loans, insurance and also make informed decisions to invest their money safely as per the services offered by various Indian banks and financial institutions. 

Whether it is saving money in bank deposits or availing loans from the banks, individual financial management needs to be done with due diligence. In other words, careless financial planning could bring great miseries!

Some time ago, I had written about the online banking service integrator portal, the bankbazaar.com which is an emerging IT company in India which helps people to take well informed decisions with regard to their banking needs. This blog is in continuation to that and may contain some redundant information.

Click on the following images to reach to the relevant pages of the best on line banking comparison and information site, bankbazaar.com:

Reviews and Comparison of Indian Banks FD interest rates!

Compare, Select and Apply for the Best Indian Credit Card!

Are you looking for some bank loans in India? But before you do that check your eligibility and resources by taking help from the financial calculators given in this page. For more financial online calculators visit this site!

For various purposes like registering some one for online money transfer etc, one occassionally needs to know the Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) of the bank branches in India. You can get it from this page! 

The bankbazaar portal also facilitates one to get appropriate life, health or car insurance from the various insurance companies in India.

Incidentally the bankbazaar company is in the expansion mode and they are in the look out for more people. Interested people with the right aptitude can lookout for their career options here!

Bankbazaar: The Best Online Site for Making Well Informed Decisions on Bank Loans, Bank Deposits and Insurance in India

Post liberalization and with the prolific growth of digital information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services, India has become a hot spot of both software companies and companies that offer IT enabled services such as banking, insurance, data processing, data storage, online trading, etc.

The companies in this sector provided millions of job opportunities with relatively good salaries to the young men and women of India who have the essential qualifications for getting employment in these specialized field of work.

The IT related business potential has been something which the old timers just could not dream just a couple of decades ago. The business models that the youngsters devised have created great wealth many times than the conventional business models. 

Being an old timer myself, I have been an awe admirer of the potential of computer software and the internet in raking up large scale economic activities and creating wealth for the individuals and the corporations.

A stage has come now that the computer systems have become an inseparable part of all human beings who have crossed over the threshold of basic development. 

The higher incomes that the IT and IT-enabled business have provided enhanced aspirations of young Indians for better housing, comforts, leisure and better services from the service providers. In turn it has been facilitating more avenues for entrepreneurs to come up with revolutionary ideas for providing better services to the customers.

Banks have been one of the first business sectors in India to shed the old style working replaced with computerization. In the retail banking, it has now become almost paperless. Several Indian banks have opted for advanced IT infrastructure and systems. 

The IT savvy population of India can now do almost all their retail banking requirements without they ever visiting the banks. They are now in a position to do it from the PC terminals or their mobile phones without leaving their comfort zones of the office, home or even while on the move. 

They could now see their bank accounts, buy many goods and services and pay online, transfer money to others, make recurring deposits (RD), fixed deposits (FD), know their income tax dues, file IT returns, pay for the services, etc.

But in the mean time, the banks have also become more flexible with every bank offering several options for each service. While outwardly all banking services looked similar, in reality they have become dissimilar. The interest that you actually get for your deposits, the interest rates and equated monthly installments that is applicable for your loans, etc are all different in different banks.

Imagine the difficulty that you face to discuss these things with each every bank before you can finally take a decision. The bank officials to whom you might talk could even be ignorant with regard to the various rules as applicable that you could get highly confused or misguided.

This complexity has initiated the thought process in a group of young and experienced engineers in the IT field that they have evolved a business model that provides a win-win situation for the individuals, the banks and themselves.

And this is the fast growing IT-enabled business called the Bankbazzar (literally meaning the market place of the banks) which got into this unique business sometime in 2008. [Read about Bankbazaar in this Wikipedia article] It was founded by a group of young and experienced Indian engineers [Read about some of them here]

Bankbazaar is wholly for the Indian people as of now. Let us see what all services this dotcom company provides to the customers in India:

It facilitate you to compare the HOME LOAN offers of various banks and finalize the best deal. 

Bankbazaar is the best place for you to compare the various CAR LOAN options from various Indian banks and zero in to the best one suitable for you.

And some of you may need a personal loan for some immediate needs. Banks usually charge higher interest rates for personal loans and they all have different interest rates, EMIs, processing charges, etc. BANKBAZAAR PERSONAL LOAN page would facilitate one to chose the best offer and finalize it. 

Bankbazaar website has many other useful features such a EMI calculators with special regard to the Indian banks, refinance calculators, Interest calculators, etc. One can access the various ONLINE CALCULATORS of this facilitating company for taking best informed decisions. 

It also provides those interested in investments to read informative articles about finance and investments in India.

One can also chose to get a suitable Credit Card from those banks in India that offer such a facility. 

In case you have surplus money, you can invest it safely in FDs of banks. But now-a-days different banks have different schemes and interest rates. Bankbazaar allows one to select the best deposit scheme and apply online for making the FIXED DEPOSITS. 

Bankbazaar also provides you facilities to decide the best suited LIFE INSURANCE from the best company of your choice.

It is not a bad idea to do a bit research before you take loans, put money in FDs or to take an insurance policy.

Finally, a word of caution. Take a loan only when it is unavoidable and when you have the resources and income to pay the EMIs.

Never take a loan which has an EMI which eats out the major portion of your monthly income. 

    

Would It Be Possible To Introduce A Practical and Workable Health Insurance System In India ?

Health and Mediclaim Insurance have come up in India in the recent years when the government of India opened up these businesses for private participation. Many so-called business leaders and professionals in the banking and related sectors joined hands to reap the big money and jumped into it by setting up so-many health insurance companies.

For getting the government licences and clearances they all collaborated with existing foreign companies who have been doing such businesses for the past many years in other parts of the globe.

They all thought of making money for them, but no one perhaps thought of giving some reasonable benefits to the poor Indian citizens on whose money they would be thriving.

They adopted the US system of health insurance (that too diluting it in the Indian way) instead of adopting the best system that are available in other countries like Canada, Australia, UK, etc.

Insurance in India is all about cheating. Whether it is life, general or health, the fundamental driving principle is cheating and making money by cheating.

Because Indians are all cheaters. That is what an insurance employee told me. That is how they are taught !

I remember reading a famous novel by a foreign author where the insurance business there was briefly described. The companies there go by trusting their patrons, though they well knew that there are a few cheaters here and there. But they would never make a trouble for a genuine customer, just because there are some fraud customers here and there.

But Indian way of business is quite different. In India, every one distrusts the other. The government and its servants are in the forefront who have the least respect and trust for the people !

There could be a larger percentage of citizens also who might do some cheating if they are provided with an opportunity to cheat.

But none of these are excuses for doing a business in the best possible manner, beneficial for the individual.

Let us now come to the basic principles of insurance.

Let us talk about health insurance or medical insurance. No one in his right mind would never like to get ill and spend his time in hospitals. But the possibility of such an event in any ones life at any time cannot be over ruled. If it happens a good fortune of money would be extracted by the hospitals for treatment. So, it is a good idea if there is some one who can provide the person a relief from his unexpected out of budget expenditure that comes quite unexpectedly some time in life. And health insurer comes to play in this scenario by making a win-win situation for both the insurance company and the individual who opt for such a facility.

If the insurance companies spend huge sums on advertisements it means that they are not for extending any real benefits to  the people, but to make profits for them from the ignorance and helplessness of the individual. If service is the main motto of the insurance company, they need not spend huge sums on advertisements. Neither they should spend large sums in establishing their head offices in posh buildings in the metro cities. Every act of theirs should be in such a way that they spend money judiciously considering that it is the money of the not so affluent citizens of the country.

Look at the scores of health insurance companies of India who ventured into this business. All of them are located with their offices in the metros. Why can't they think other than the metros ? Why can't they move out to the state capitals and the tier-2 cities where the establishment costs are much lower ? Just because some of their top executives whom they had hired happen to be from the metros, they want their offices in the metros even if that costs a good lot of money. When their establishment costs are very high, it is quite natural that they take years to turn around and be of any good to the people in the real sense.

Governments are also to be blamed for this kind of a situation in India. They are responsible for unequal development of the country. If they are responsible, they would consider giving incentives to companies to set up their offices in smaller cities ! But regrettably, they are not  or simply they do not think of such things !

Insurance business works on the laws of probability and statistics. But if such data are not reliable, every thing go wrong. Indian companies are yet to learn how to use the power of the internet to do business properly. They should also learn how to trust people, instead of moving with pre-conceived bias against the people.

None of the health or medical insurance companies have options for paying the premiums on small monthly instalments. All have annual payment options only. This, it seems is because of their distrust in the people. They have construed that Indian public are cheaters. That simply means that they think that the person who signs with them for the health insurance will not pay the instalments after availing the insured amounts from the insurance company ! Is it true for all Indians ? Had they had proper market surveys and data, they would have found that it is not correct. In reality, health insurance is something which is only in the agenda of well to do middle class or upper class Indians with a regular income. Such people are the least probable entities who think of cheating any one ! Of course, there could be a minuscule percentage of people who might default payments due to various reasons.

But such defaults are part of any business. Not any thing specific to the insurance business alone ! A good insurer would know how to safe guard and cover such problems.

Now let me explain some more details of this business with some examples from my own view points. Let me admit that this is pure common sense and not based on any high end business analysis by the so-called experts.

Let me explain my own requirements as regard to medical insurance. I am a salaried person. My employer provide me some health care facilities. But they have certain rules and limitations that I am not very comfortable with.

For day to day expenses in medicines and medical check ups, I don't feel going after a medical insurance company for reimbursements. That is simply ridiculous and not befitting my status ! I don't like spending time and efforts in paper works for some small amounts ! For such amounts of say, not exceeding Rs.2000/- per month, I don't mind paying from my pocket.

But that is not going to be the case if due to some misfortune I or some one in my family is admitted in hospital and I have to spend some money which is near or more than my monthly income to the hospital. That is exactly where the medical insurer has some relevance for me. For offsetting such an eventuality, I don't mind spending an insurance amount of say Rs.500/- per month per person in my family on a regular basis for covering a yearly hospitalization expense at actuals not exceeding Rs.100,000/- per person.

Now let us see, how this translate for the insurance provider. Suppose there are 1000 people like me who are willing to pay an average Rs.2000/- per month to the health insurance company for each of their  families with an average of 4 persons. That means the company gets Rs.2 million in a month as insurance premium. In an year, the amount becomes Rs.24 million.

Now assume that 5 % of the total persons are hospitalized in that period, each incurring an average actual hospitalization expenditure of Rs.75,000/- on the average. The insurance company has to bear that expense. How much it would be ? It is 4x1000x5%x75000= Rs.15 Million. Please note that in actual practice, this much hospitalization expense actually does not happen if the company take some minimum care while enrolling the people initially. So, the company is left with a clear margin of Rs.9 Million during the same period.

What would be the potential for the company in India where there are more than 34 Million income tax payers? Assuming that 5 % of this people are covered by the company in the above said manner instead of the 1000 people ? That is a clear profit potential of Rs.1530 Million per year.

Now comes the expenses of the company. It all depends on how many people it wants to employ and how many offices it wants to set up and at what costs. Suppose the company spends 50% of the cash margin for people and infrastructure. Out of this let us say 50 % is for salaries and 50 % is towards other costs such as building rentals, software costs, electricity, etc. The company can well employ more than 1500 employees with an average annual cost to the company of Rs.400,000/- It is all up to them how less they can manage. Similar, for the office costs too.

Now, dear reader, you should have understood the profit potential in this insurance field. That is exactly the reason why the government wants to keep their control over this hugely profit making business. In fact government also wants a cut !

When every body wants a cut and the motive is profit making, the only sufferer is the individual.

And that is exactly what is happening in India.

Had the peoples' representatives and their bureaucratic advisers think of the welfare of the people, just as in the case of welfare nations like Canada, things would have been much different. [I would advise those interested to read more about it in this wikipedia article . It would be interesting to know about health care system of the US also to understand the difference.]

What I wanted to point out is only this:

Health insurance business is a highly profitable one even in India. If it is done with a bit responsibly and a bit commitment to the people, in a manner simple and practical, there is no need for luring people to it by big spending in advertisements, etc. People of India are not fools, they can very well understand what is good for them. The business can be done beneficial to both sides with more benefits passed on to the people.

Neither there is no need for these companies to work out so many so-called insurance products for fooling the people with much in fine prints. All this can be done online with minimal efforts, if they want to do it.

But for that, these companies need clear thinking minds at their top. People with clear thinking, but who think of the people more than how to make profits for the company.

Then they will not need all those people who are required for managing their ad campaigns and other things which drains their coffers. After all that money belongs to the people.

These companies also should think of moving out of the metros. They should also limit their top corporate pay packs at reasonable levels.

If such things do not happen, these health insurance companies of India are not going to survive longer !

Just as what happened to the public sector insurance companies who started health insurance in the past and went out of business due to their unfriendly business practices, the many insurance companies with foreign co-names are going to shut shops.

Let us hope that would not happen !

[Please also take some time to come back and read my previous  blogs and blogs on other topics as well. You can reach to those by clicking the links in this page. I would be happy if you take some time to express your views using the comments facility down below. Please  use the same comment facility to interact with me for any doubts or clarifications that you might have. Here is the page link which gives the   list of all my blogs  where you can open all my blog titles.]