The question I get most often from salaried applicants is some version of “I earn ₹X, how much can I borrow?” People expect a multiplier, like ten times salary. There isn’t one. What decides your amount is how much monthly EMI your salary can carry, and the loan size simply falls out of that.

I’ll show you the calculation I’d do on a napkin, so you can have your own answer before you apply.

The three-line calculation

Line 1: your monthly room. Take your bank-credited, in-hand salary. Multiply by 50%, which is the broad industry ceiling for total fixed obligations. Subtract every EMI you already pay (loans, card dues, instalment plans). What’s left is the most EMI any lender could add.

Line 2: your comfortable room. Do the same at 40% instead. This is the number I’d actually plan around, because a ceiling is where an application stops being writable, not where life feels easy.

Line 3: convert EMI to amount. This depends on rate and tenure. As an illustration, at 18% a year, every ₹1,00,000 borrowed costs about ₹4,992 a month over 24 months, or about ₹3,615 a month over 36 months. Rates vary by profile, so treat these as a yardstick and not a quote.

Here’s how that plays out for three people, all at 18% p.a.:

  • ₹35,000 take-home, ₹9,000 already going to a two-wheeler EMI. Ceiling room: ₹17,500 minus ₹9,000 = ₹8,500. Over 24 months that supports roughly ₹1.7 lakh. At 40%, the room is only ₹5,000, or about ₹1 lakh.
  • ₹50,000 take-home, ₹6,000 existing EMI. Ceiling room: ₹25,000 minus ₹6,000 = ₹19,000, which is roughly ₹3.8 lakh over 24 months. Comfortable room at 40%: ₹14,000, or about ₹2.8 lakh over 24 months (and about ₹3.9 lakh if you stretch to 36 months).
  • ₹80,000 take-home, no existing EMIs. At 40%, the room is ₹32,000, which on paper supports far more than our ₹5,00,000 limit. A full ₹5,00,000 over 36 months is an EMI of about ₹18,076, only around 23% of income.

Notice what the first example shows. The ₹35,000 earner isn’t “low income”; they’re already committed. Existing obligations move your amount as much as salary does.

Considering this kind of loan? Apply for a Securis loan — typical disbursement is 1-2 working days.

What else moves the number

Salary and obligations set the ceiling. Three other things decide whether you reach it.

Salary regularity. At Securis we look for bank-credited salary, typically three months of it, arriving on a predictable pattern. A steady ₹45,000 credited on the 1st reads better than a ₹60,000 that moves around.

Bounce history. A bounced EMI or cheque in your recent statements matters more than most people expect. Clean it up before applying and the same salary can get you a better outcome.

Tenure. A longer tenure lowers the EMI and raises the amount you qualify for, but you pay more interest in total. On ₹3,00,000 at 18%, 24 months means an EMI of about ₹14,977 (total repayment about ₹3.59 lakh), while 36 months means about ₹10,846 (total about ₹3.90 lakh). That’s roughly ₹31,000 more for the extra year. Whether that trade is worth it is your call; the point is to see it before choosing.

Securis lends up to ₹5,00,000 to salaried applicants, usually over one to three years. The purpose of the loan, whether medical, a wedding, consolidating card dues or a repair, is disclosed on the documents, but the file is assessed on your own income and banking behaviour.

When to borrow less than you qualify for

Qualifying for an amount isn’t the same as needing it. A few situations where I’d borrow below the ceiling:

  • Your salary is about to change. If a notice period, a job switch or a variable-pay cycle is coming, size the EMI to your lowest likely month, not your best.
  • The need is smaller than the offer. Borrow the gap, not the headroom. Interest runs on every rupee you take.
  • You’re close to 50% already. A smaller loan with a shorter tenure leaves you room for the unplanned month.

And a plain limit on our side: if you need well above ₹5,00,000, an unsecured personal loan is generally not the right product on its own. A secured loan against an asset, or a bank’s product built for larger amounts, usually fits better. We’d rather tell you that than stretch a file.

The short version

Take-home salary times 40% to 50%, minus what you already pay, gives your EMI room. Divide that by the per-lakh EMI for your tenure and you have your amount. Then ask whether you need all of it.

If you want a second opinion on your specific situation, WhatsApp us — we’ll be honest about whether Securis fits.