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Most programmers in India live in their parents house. So they save $500 on rent and are able to live on $400 per month. Programmers who move of parents house,

Most programmers in India live in their parents house. So they save $500 on rent and are able to live on $400 per month. Programmers who move of parents house, share a 1 bed room apartment with 3 friends to save on rent and cover up their cost of living. Few of them make over $1000 per month and live independently, with a better lifestyle. You actually need at least $1000 per month for decent living in India. The $500 apartment I mentioned, is nothing fancy. Just a 1 bed room unfurnished apartment with bare minimum utilities and 12 hrs of daily electricity power cuts.

pbhjpbhj 16y ago
>You actually need at least $1000 per month for decent living in India. $1000 USD is £630 GBP. Our family of 4 (2 young children) live on about £1000, ie $1600 - we have a private home with a bedroom each, run a car (necessary for work otherwise it we'd ditch it and use mass transit) and eat a moderately varied diet with meat/fish twice a day. I would say ours is probably unsustainable long term (clothing, building maintenance, increasing costs for the children) but a couple of hundred £GBP a month would be enough to change that (sadly the poverty trap probably means that we'd have to go to both being in full-time paid employment requiring full-time childcare just to get that £200 extra; poll tax mounts, allowances decline). Anyway, my point was I'm surprised by your figures for India. Cost of living seems a lot higher that I'd expect. But here's the rub - "decent living" has vastly different interpretations. I'd say we live decently despite living well below the official poverty line in our country. OT: we still pay taxes (but not lots) in part to help people on as much as 8+ times our per-person income to look after their kids.
- RealGeek 16y ago
  $1000 is not poverty in India, its middle class. Officially, poverty is less than $1/day in India. But realistically, anything below $100 per month is extreme poverty. Most people with income of $1000 per month in India can afford a 2 bedroom apartment, a small car and good diet.
  - pbhjpbhj 16y ago
    >Most people with income of $1000 per month in India can afford a 2 bedroom apartment, a small car and good diet. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm surprised that it would be this much as I'm pretty sure that a couple in the UK can do a 2bed apartment, small car and good diet on the same amount; it would be hard and a little more would make it vastly easier. Maybe we're just doing austerity better than I thought we were.
- blrgeek 16y ago
  His estimates are 2x what my wife and I spend. Our 2BHK was INR10K ~ USD200 pm. This is by far our biggest expense. Our monthly petrol bill is INR2K ~ USD50. Groceries (we eat 4/5 meals at home weekly) is INR4K ~ USD100. Utilities ~ USD100. Total ~ USD500 for a couple. And we live a good life! On the plus side, we're now saving nearly 55% of our monthly gross :) (incl mortgages)
  - RealGeek 16y ago
    Do you pay for electricity, internet, mobile bills, car EMI, entertainment, eating out, shopping and thousand other expenses? All these things can cost upward of $500 per month.
    - FraaJad 16y ago
      The difference between him and you, if I can make the generalization, you spend like a north-Indian, he spends like a south Indian.
- blntechie 16y ago
  His expenses are in my opinion at the high/upper middle side. You can check my expenses here http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1785105 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1785105 I'm not living in the same city as he is so the rent may differ a bit but not so drastic. I too live in a metropolitan city (4th largest in India) and I can get you a posh 3 bedroom apartment/house for the rent he specified.

pbhjpbhj 16y ago

>You actually need at least $1000 per month for decent living in India. $1000 USD is £630 GBP. Our family of 4 (2 young children) live on about £1000, ie $1600 - we have a private home with a bedroom each, run a car (necessary for work otherwise it we'd ditch it and use mass transit) and eat a moderately varied diet with meat/fish twice a day. I would say ours is probably unsustainable long term (clothing, building maintenance, increasing costs for the children) but a couple of hundred £GBP a month would be enough to change that (sadly the poverty trap probably means that we'd have to go to both being in full-time paid employment requiring full-time childcare just to get that £200 extra; poll tax mounts, allowances decline). Anyway, my point was I'm surprised by your figures for India. Cost of living seems a lot higher that I'd expect. But here's the rub - "decent living" has vastly different interpretations. I'd say we live decently despite living well below the official poverty line in our country. OT: we still pay taxes (but not lots) in part to help people on as much as 8+ times our per-person income to look after their kids.

RealGeek 16y ago
$1000 is not poverty in India, its middle class. Officially, poverty is less than $1/day in India. But realistically, anything below $100 per month is extreme poverty. Most people with income of $1000 per month in India can afford a 2 bedroom apartment, a small car and good diet.
- pbhjpbhj 16y ago
  >Most people with income of $1000 per month in India can afford a 2 bedroom apartment, a small car and good diet. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm surprised that it would be this much as I'm pretty sure that a couple in the UK can do a 2bed apartment, small car and good diet on the same amount; it would be hard and a little more would make it vastly easier. Maybe we're just doing austerity better than I thought we were.
blrgeek 16y ago
His estimates are 2x what my wife and I spend. Our 2BHK was INR10K ~ USD200 pm. This is by far our biggest expense. Our monthly petrol bill is INR2K ~ USD50. Groceries (we eat 4/5 meals at home weekly) is INR4K ~ USD100. Utilities ~ USD100. Total ~ USD500 for a couple. And we live a good life! On the plus side, we're now saving nearly 55% of our monthly gross :) (incl mortgages)
- RealGeek 16y ago
  Do you pay for electricity, internet, mobile bills, car EMI, entertainment, eating out, shopping and thousand other expenses? All these things can cost upward of $500 per month.
  - FraaJad 16y ago
    The difference between him and you, if I can make the generalization, you spend like a north-Indian, he spends like a south Indian.
blntechie 16y ago
His expenses are in my opinion at the high/upper middle side. You can check my expenses here http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1785105 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1785105 I'm not living in the same city as he is so the rent may differ a bit but not so drastic. I too live in a metropolitan city (4th largest in India) and I can get you a posh 3 bedroom apartment/house for the rent he specified.