Everyone Quotes the EMI. Almost Nobody Shows You the Full Bill.
Walk into any sales office on the Kharadi–EON Free Zone stretch and ask what a ₹85 lakh 2BHK will cost you monthly, and the salesperson will do one calculation: EMI. They'll punch numbers into a calculator, land on a figure in the high fifties of thousands, and move straight to "and possession is in 2027, sir." What they won't walk you through, unprompted, is the roughly ₹29 lakh in cash you need before the loan even starts disbursing, or the maintenance bill that lands every month on top of that EMI for as long as you own the flat.
This piece does the whole thing — one specific, real flat, with real 2026 interest rates, real Maharashtra stamp duty, real GST, and the actual arithmetic worked out and double-checked. No rounding tricks, no brochure optimism.
This is a worked illustrative example based on real, cited rates and charges as of August 2026 — not financial advice, and not a quote for any specific project. Your bank, your builder, and your society will have their own numbers; use this as the framework to sanity-check theirs.
The Flat We're Actually Pricing
To keep this real rather than hypothetical, here's the specific unit this article prices out:
- Configuration: 2BHK, carpet area 720 sq ft — squarely inside the 692–741 sq ft carpet-area band that shows up repeatedly across current Kharadi 2BHK listings, and inside the 650–780 sq ft range typical for this ticket size in the locality.
- Saleable/built-up area: roughly 950 sq ft, assuming a fairly standard Pune loading factor of ~30–32% between carpet and saleable area (an assumption — always confirm the exact RERA-declared carpet area and loading for any specific project before signing).
- Base agreement price: ₹85,00,000 — the midpoint of the ₹75–95 lakh band this size and configuration commands in Kharadi right now, and close to the ₹76.9–98 lakh range independently found for 700–900 sq ft carpet 2BHKs in the locality.
- Status: under-construction, new launch, possession not yet complete — the more common scenario for this configuration in Kharadi today, where most fresh launches show possession windows stretching into 2026–2028.
That works out to roughly ₹11,800 per sq ft on carpet area — broadly in line with what current listing data shows, though separate sources put Kharadi's blended price/sq ft (likely measured on a saleable-area basis, and skewed by pockets closest to WTC and EON Free Zone) as high as ₹13,000–14,000/sq ft. Kharadi pricing genuinely varies this much by micro-pocket and by whether a figure is quoted on carpet or saleable area — treat any single "Kharadi price/sq ft" headline with that in mind.
What Home Loan Rates Actually Look Like Right Now
Rate aggregators love a "starting from" number that almost nobody with an average credit profile actually gets. Here's what could actually be verified for August 2026, split between the promotional headline and the more realistic effective rate:
| Lender | Headline "starting from" rate | More realistic rate for a typical (not top-tier) borrower | Source/date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SBI | 7.25% p.a. | 8.50% p.a. | CreditMantri, 5 Aug 2026; SBI's own EBLR was cited at 8.15% following the RBI's June 2026 MPC decision to hold the repo rate at 5.25% |
| HDFC Bank | 7.75–7.90% p.a. | 8.15–8.70% p.a. | HDFC Bank's own rate page, July 2026 |
| ICICI Bank | 7.50% p.a. | 8.50–10.05% p.a. | ICICI Bank official site (Aug 2026); most floating-rate borrowers cited in the 8.5–10.05% band |
The pattern across all three lenders is the same: the "starting from" number is reserved for borrowers with a CIBIL score of roughly 800+, large loan amounts, and often a salaried-with-a-payroll-relationship profile. A genuinely typical Pune salaried buyer — CIBIL in the 750–790 band, a standard salary account, no special corporate tie-up — should budget for something closer to 8.30–8.70% p.a., not the number in the ad.
For the worked example below, this article uses 8.50% p.a., SBI's own current representative rate as reported in early August 2026 — a real, dated, cited figure rather than a guessed round number.
The Loan: 80% Financing, 20% Down
RBI's loan-to-value (LTV) rules cap financing in slabs based on the loan amount: up to 90% for loans up to ₹30 lakh, up to 80% for loans between ₹30–75 lakh, and up to 75% for anything above ₹75 lakh. On an ₹85 lakh flat, an 80%-financed loan works out to ₹68 lakh — which stays under the ₹75 lakh slab, so 80% financing (20% down payment) is genuinely achievable here. Push the purchase price toward the ₹95 lakh end of the range with the same 80% ask, though, and the loan amount crosses ₹75 lakh, dropping the maximum LTV to 75% and forcing a bigger down payment — worth knowing if you're shopping at the top of this band rather than the middle.
For this example: loan amount = ₹68,00,000 (80% of ₹85,00,000), tenure = 20 years (240 months).
The EMI Table — Worked and Double-Checked
Using the standard EMI formula — EMI = P × r × (1+r)ⁿ ÷ [(1+r)ⁿ − 1], where P is principal, r is the monthly interest rate, and n is the number of months — here's what ₹68 lakh actually costs per month at different real rates:
| Interest rate | Monthly EMI | Total repaid over 20 yrs | Total interest paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.25% (best-case, CIBIL 800+) | ₹53,746 | ₹1,28,98,936 | ₹60,98,936 |
| 8.10% (good profile, CIBIL 750+) | ₹57,302 | ₹1,37,52,445 | ₹69,52,445 |
| 8.50% (SBI, representative current rate) | ₹59,012 | ₹1,41,62,875 | ₹73,62,875 |
| 9.00% (weaker profile / NBFC) | ₹61,181 | ₹1,46,83,528 | ₹78,83,528 |
The honest number to sit with here: at 8.50%, you repay ₹73.63 lakh in interest alone on a ₹68 lakh loan — more than the principal itself. Your CIBIL score isn't a paperwork detail; the 175-basis-point gap between the best and weakest rows above is worth roughly ₹7,435 a month, or nearly ₹18 lakh over the full tenure.
Stamp Duty, Registration and GST — The Government's Cut
Pune, being under a Municipal Corporation, attracts one of Maharashtra's higher stamp duty bands: 7% for a male or joint buyer (5% base stamp duty + 1% metro cess + 1% local body tax), and 6% for a woman buying solely in her own name. Registration is a flat ₹30,000 for any property valued above ₹30 lakh — the same fee whether you're buying this flat or a ₹5 crore villa.
Because this is under-construction, GST also applies. Even at a compact 720 sq ft carpet area (well under the 90 sq metre non-metro affordable-housing carpet limit), the ₹85 lakh price tag blows past the ₹45 lakh value cap for GST's "affordable housing" category — so this flat is taxed at the standard 5% non-affordable rate, with no input tax credit available to the builder, not the 1% affordable rate. This is the single most common thing buyers get wrong about GST on a flat like this.
| Charge | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Base agreement price | — | ₹85,00,000 |
| GST (under-construction, non-affordable) | 5% | ₹4,25,000 |
| Stamp duty (male/joint buyer) | 7% | ₹5,95,000 |
| Registration fee | Flat | ₹30,000 |
| Total all-in acquisition cost | ₹95,50,000 |
That's ₹10.5 lakh, or roughly 12.4%, on top of the quoted sale price — squarely in line with the 11–13% markup typically seen on Pune under-construction purchases. If this flat were ready-to-move with an Occupancy Certificate instead, GST wouldn't apply at all, cutting that markup closer to 7.4% — one real reason completed inventory commands a premium over an identical under-construction unit, beyond just avoiding construction risk.
The Real Upfront Cash You Need — Not Just the Down Payment
Banks lend against the base property price, not against GST, stamp duty, registration, or society charges. Every one of those has to come from your own pocket, on top of the 20% down payment — and this is exactly where budgets quoted in a sales pitch fall apart.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Down payment (20% of ₹85,00,000) | ₹17,00,000 |
| GST | ₹4,25,000 |
| Stamp duty | ₹5,95,000 |
| Registration | ₹30,000 |
| Legal/documentation charges (agreement drafting, title check) | ~₹15,000 |
| Loan processing fee (SBI: 0.35% capped at ₹10,000 + 18% GST) | ~₹11,800 |
| Society formation/corpus fund (new project; commonly ₹50,000–₹2,00,000 — using a mid-range estimate) | ~₹1,25,000 |
| Total cash needed before/around disbursement | ~₹29,01,800 |
That's roughly 34% of the flat's base price in cash, not the 20% most buyers mentally budget for when they hear "20% down payment." The gap — about ₹12 lakh — is government charges, GST, and one-time society costs that a sales conversation rarely leads with.
The Monthly Number Nobody Budgets For
The EMI at 8.50% is ₹59,012. That's not your real monthly housing cost.
Society maintenance in Pune generally runs ₹2–8 per sq ft per month, scaling with how amenity-heavy the project is — no Kharadi-specific per-sq-ft figure could be reliably pinned down for this article, so treat the number below as a working estimate within that documented range, not a quote for any real society. A new, amenity-carrying Kharadi launch (clubhouse, gym, security, common-area upkeep) sits toward the middle-to-upper end of that band — say ₹4–7/sq ft, which on ~950 sq ft saleable area works out to ₹3,800–₹6,650 a month. Using a working midpoint of ~₹5,500/month:
| Cost | Monthly amount |
|---|---|
| EMI (8.50%, ₹68L, 20 yrs) | ₹59,012 |
| Society maintenance (estimate) | ~₹5,500 |
| Real total monthly housing outflow | ~₹64,500 |
That's roughly 9% higher than the EMI alone — the figure almost every buyer uses when mentally checking "can I afford this." PMC property tax adds a further, smaller annual bill on top of this (see Roomii's PMC/PCMC property tax guide for how that's calculated) — not large enough to change the picture materially, but real enough to not ignore entirely.
What Monthly Income Do You Actually Need?
Indian lenders don't work off a single RBI-mandated ceiling for how much of your income can go toward EMIs — each bank sets its own Fixed Obligation to Income Ratio (FOIR) internally. But 40–50% of gross monthly income is the de facto industry norm across most public and private lenders, with 40% widely treated by advisors as the safer ceiling and 50–55% as the outer edge banks will still approve for higher earners.
Two different answers fall out of that guideline, depending on which number you apply it to:
- The bank's approval floor (50% FOIR, against EMI alone of ₹59,012): household income of
₹1,18,000/month (₹14.2 lakh/year). This is the minimum that gets you the sanction letter — not a comfort number. - A genuinely comfortable floor (40% FOIR, against the real ₹64,500 monthly outflow including maintenance): household income of
₹1,61,000/month (₹19.3 lakh/year).
The honest gap between those two numbers — about ₹43,000 a month, or ₹5 lakh a year — is the difference between "the bank will lend to me" and "I won't be stretched thin every month once maintenance, property tax, and normal life are added in." If you already carry another EMI (a car loan, an existing personal loan), your real FOIR headroom shrinks further, and that ₹1.61 lakh floor should move up, not down.
The Roomii Verdict
Buying this specific flat — an ₹85 lakh, 720 sq ft carpet 2BHK, under-construction, in Kharadi, financed at 80% LTV over 20 years — realistically requires two things most sales pitches gloss over: close to ₹29 lakh in cash before you get the keys, and a household income comfortably north of ₹1.6 lakh a month to carry it without the EMI eating your other financial goals alive. The bank may sanction the loan to a household earning closer to ₹1.18 lakh a month — but that's the bank's risk tolerance, not yours, and it doesn't account for the maintenance bill that starts the day you move in.
If your household income sits meaningfully above ₹1.6 lakh/month and you have the ₹29 lakh upfront cash already set aside (not borrowed, not stretched from an emergency fund), this purchase is genuinely comfortable on the numbers. If either number is a stretch, that's worth knowing now, at the spreadsheet stage — not eighteen months into an EMI cycle with a possession date that's slipped.
FAQs
Is 8.50% the actual interest rate I'll get on a home loan in Kharadi right now? It's a real, cited SBI rate as of early August 2026 for a representative borrower — not a promotional "starting from" figure and not guaranteed for every applicant. Borrowers with a CIBIL score of 800+ and a strong salary profile have been quoted rates as low as 7.25–7.50% by SBI and ICICI; weaker profiles or NBFC financing can run closer to 9%. Always get your own in-principle sanction letter before assuming any single number.
Why does GST apply even though this is a fairly compact 2BHK? GST's "affordable housing" category needs the flat to clear both a carpet-area test (up to 90 sq m in non-metro cities like Pune) and a ₹45 lakh value cap. This flat's 720 sq ft (~66.9 sq m) carpet area passes the area test easily, but its ₹85 lakh price blows past the ₹45 lakh cap — so it's taxed at the standard 5% non-affordable rate, not 1%.
Would this be cheaper if I bought ready-to-move instead of under-construction? You'd save the ₹4.25 lakh GST outright, since GST doesn't apply once a project has its Occupancy Certificate. In practice, ready-to-move units in Kharadi also tend to be priced at a premium over comparable under-construction inventory — no single verified premium percentage exists for this comparison, but the GST savings plus zero construction-completion risk are both real reasons buyers pay more for a finished flat.
Does the bank finance the stamp duty and GST as part of my home loan? No. Loan-to-value financing applies to the base property price only. Stamp duty, registration, and GST all have to be funded from your own savings, on top of the down payment — which is the single biggest reason the real upfront cash requirement (~34% of the base price here) runs well above the 20% figure most buyers expect.
What if I can't clear the ₹1.6 lakh/month comfortable-income bar? The bank's own approval floor sits lower, around ₹1.18 lakh/month against EMI alone — so a sanction is still possible below the comfort threshold this article uses. Whether that's wise depends on your other obligations, savings rate, and risk tolerance; a loan that's approvable isn't automatically a loan that leaves you comfortable month to month.
Property prices, interest rates, and government charges change over time — always verify current figures directly with your bank, builder, and the IGR Maharashtra portal before finalizing a purchase. For more on the underlying charges referenced here, see Roomii's guides on Maharashtra registration charges, GST on under-construction property, the home loan process in Pune, and society maintenance charges. For the fuller picture on the locality itself, see the Kharadi locality guide.
Browse verified, 0% brokerage 2BHK listings in Kharadi on Roomii — connect directly with owners and builders, with MahaRERA registration surfaced on every listing where it's been provided.
Sources
| Source | Article/Page Title | Date | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| CreditMantri | SBI Home Loan Interest Rate | 5 Aug 2026 | creditmantri.com ↗ |
| HDFC Bank | Home Loan Interest Rates | Jul 2026 | homeloans.hdfc.bank.in ↗ |
| ICICI Bank | Home Loan Interest Rates | Aug 2026 | icici.bank.in ↗ |
| PropertyColossal / market listings aggregate | 2 BHK Flats for Sale in Kharadi, Pune — Price, Possession and Carpet Area | 2026 | propertycolossal.com ↗ |
| NoBroker | Stamp Duty and Registration Charges in Pune | 2026 | nobroker.in ↗ |
| Business.in / Home First India / Brigade Group | GST on Under-Construction Property 2026 | 2026 | busy.in ↗ |
| CreditMantri | Home Loan Processing Fees and Charges 2026 | 2026 | creditmantri.com ↗ |
| eligibilitytools.in | Home Loan Eligibility in India 2026 — FOIR, LTV Caps | 2026 | eligibilitytools.in ↗ |
| Square Yards | Society Maintenance Charges in Maharashtra | 2026 | squareyards.com ↗ |