Cost of living in India

WELL ITS MORE THAN SAFE AND SECURE THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY,LOOK FOR A NORTHERN CITY LIKE DEHRADOON OR MAY BE CHANDIGARH.HIGH CLAS CITIES AND VERY EASY TO LIVE IN THIS BUDGET--IF YOU TAKE MY WORD---ITS MORE THAN ENOUGH,OR YOU MIGHT WANT TO THINK ABOUT SATELITE TOWNS LIKE GHAZIABD OR GURGAON NEAR DELHI

HI worldh2ohelp

Welcome to Expat.com!

I wish you good luck in your search.

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Hi ashish sharma,

You should avoid using your caps lock on the forum.

Thank you.

Hi worldh2ohelp,

Good day.

Though you have not mentioned, from which country you are at present - seems you are looking for a good quality life at a lower cost - after your retirement.  Best wishes.

If you are looking for a good quality city life, sitting idle and enjoying; the places suitable for you seems Kolkota (erstwhile calcutta) - state of West Bengal, Pune - state of Maharashtra, Mysore and Manglore (Mangala puram) - State of Karnataka, Trivandrum - State of Kerala etc. You can have a decent life here with 500 USD, and moderate lavish life with 1000 USD. Please google for more details and pictures.

Though these places has got the facilities of city life, they are not much costlier. The climatic and other conditions are very good. Further you could find some good friends of the same age and attitude - retired persons from military, banks, government administrative services and other prestigious organisations. You can do almost all activities with English alone, but take it as a challenge and thrill to learn new languages. It may help you a lot.

These places are surrounded by many villages engaged in agriculture - the cost for food too is comparatively low. People in these places are almost friendly and fine.

But I suggest you to enjoy your retired life by engaging in some interesting activities, otherwise you may get hibernated or switched off soon.

Why not try agriculture farms, horticulture, forestry, fish farm etc. Agriculture is one of the noblest profession in the world, especially organic farming. It fetches you respect and satisfaction that you are providing jobs to the farm laborers. It brings peace to mind and reasonable profits.

You can take farm land on lease for a long period; say five or six years.   

If you opt for active life the best place seems the best place that suits you is Mysore or Mangalore (Mangalapuram). Mysore is a piece of heaven with fantastic climate, royal palaces & mansions, beautiful gardens and wonderful people. It is rather a high altitude place in Deccan plateau. A suitable place for agriculture of vegetables, fruits, flowers, sugarcane, pulses and cereals.

Other place, Mangalore or Mangalapuram is on costal side with lot of hills. The climate too is good, but little hot during summer. This makes it most suitable for fish farming, tropical vegetables, water melons, muskmelons, banana, paddy, sugarcane etc.

The Karnataka state government is one of the most agri-friendly, states on India.  It provides electricity totally free of cost for agri purpose. Modern methods like poly house, drip irrigation, mulching, hydroponics are commonly followed here. Assistance form government officials in this regard is laudable.     

Another country with almost the same features is Srilanka. But you cannot expect this much advancement in agricultural technologies there. Not much backing from the government too. Their legal system and formalities are dens of corruption and complexity. But if you don't mind to allocate a small part of your spending for these hungry officers - it is more than OK.

Regarding your idea of getting married to a local lady, you should be careful. First of all, no younger ladies may agree to marry a much elder person (sorry, I don't have an idea of your age, and my principle is that -your age is as decided by your mind; aka if your mind is young you are always young). Only thing that might motivate young ladies to marry an elder man may be his wealth and bank balance. But there may be genuine cases like widows, divorcees, elderly virgins etc. Better you go somewhat deep about her background and history. Don't be in hurry. Think at least five times - the pros and cons in different combinations and permutations.

Further try to find some reliable good from the area you choose to settle, and seek their valuable advices.

Hope you got a general idea.

If still with no idea, there is IDEA 3G Cellular phone service - take a connection, talk a lot and empty your pocket.

Regards

Gopakumar

India is very cheap country. You can live quite comfortably with this budget. Really a good price you have there, its more than enough. Food is quite cheap. Its also very Safe country. You can live safe and good with this budget.

@kumargopa avoiding posting your mobile number

We have moved hereto Bhowali from the USA to retire. Bhowali is located in the foothills of the Himalayan range.

We have rented a 2 bedroom cottage for $300.00 USD/month.  We choose not to have a car.  Round trip by taxi to the market is $7.00.  A Taxi for the day is about $27.00 including the tip. Our cleaning lady/cook works from 9 AM-5PM.  She does everything, washing to errands. We pay her $60.00/month as well as lunch. I hear a full time live in driver would be around $100.00-$150.00.  Food is very inexpensive.  We spend an average of $20.00/week including cleaning supplies.  Keep in mind we are vegetarian.  We have yet to receive our electric bill as we have been in our cottage just a month.  We should be getting that any day now.  Our cooking gas is still on the first tank.  That was $28.00.

My husband is Indian and speaks Hindi.  The locals speak some English.  I was hoping to learn Hindi from my cleaning lady but she is picking up English faster than I am picking up Hindi.

My husband and I lead a simple life by choice, therefor our expenses are not that great.  If you eat out frequently your costs will be more.  You can get a good meal out for $4.00.

I hope this is helpful.  Feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions.

You can live a above average life with 2000 usd per month and bangalore may be a best location as well

Hi Worlh2ohelp
I would sugegst you to move to Punjab. Very friendly people, low living cost, not many urban areas, hence mostly pollution free.. Chandigarh would be an excellent choice.. You will love living there..! Mostly green and a wonderful climate having all four seasons..!
Plus a stable state government for the last ten years..
Best of luck
Cheers

I just wrote about the cost of living in Delhi based on 2013 prices, hope this helps!

meetmehereandthere.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/cost-of-delhi-living/

Hi  meetmehereandthere,

Please feel free to create a new topic by posting some of these information on the forum New Delhi forum, these might surely help.

Regards,

David.

Which city is cheaper in terms of costs, Lucknow, Kolkata, or Hyderabad.?
thanks for your support

Hyderabad...

Hyderabad is a multicultural city.You will come across many foreigners staying here.There are many places in Hyderabad that you can reside with a rent cost of 100-200USD. Food is also not very expensive you can have enough of amount saved here and you can look for areas like Begumpet or Banjara hills to reside as you will find good crowd here but big Malls around.

Good Luck!!!!

Thank you for outlining the various costs of living in Bhowali-- very helpful.

I spent last year working on a Fulbright in Kochi, and I'm thinking of returning to a different are of India for 3 or 4 months this year.  One question I had is whether or not it's possible to rent on a month by month basis.  If so, would the rent tend to be higher on a month to month contract, rather than on a yearly lease? 

Terry

Month to month here in Bhowali does not seam to be a problem.  Do not believe the prices you find posted in the Intranet.  We have found them to be much less.

Good Luck

Cynthia

Are 40,000 INR a month enough to live in Delhi?