- High salaries in metros often feel insufficient due to high costs and debts
- Private school fees rose 160% in a decade, outpacing income growth significantly
- Medical inflation at 14% makes healthcare a serious financial concern
A high salary doesn't necessarily mean financial freedom. Even earning Rs 2 lakh a month in a metro can feel insufficient or suffocating for many due to soaring costs, debts, and expenses. Many Tier-1 city earners struggle to make ends meet, despite a seemingly lucrative income.
Recently, CA Nitin Kaushik drew attention to this, commenting on how India's middle class is increasingly trapped in a relentless financial squeeze. Over the past decade, private school fees have surged by an alarming 160%, far outpacing income growth and forcing families to make painful trade-offs just to secure basic education for their children. At the same time, medical inflation has climbed to around 14%, the highest in Asia, turning even routine healthcare into a serious financial risk and making medical emergencies a constant source of anxiety.
The pressure doesn't stop there. Housing has become another major burden, especially in urban India. In Mumbai, the price-to-income ratio has touched 15 times, while in Delhi it stands at 12 times, pushing home ownership beyond reach for most salaried households. Buying a modest home now often means signing up for a 20-year loan, with nearly 50% of monthly take-home pay swallowed by EMIs.
"We're effectively running on a treadmill: 30% to taxes, 25% to rent, and 20% to essential services that the state fails to provide.
The uncomfortable truth is this: This demographic isn't building wealth. They're becoming high-income debt-servicing machines for the real estate and education sectors," he wrote in a post on X.
See the tweet here:
Many agreed with his perspective and shared their views. One user wrote, "₹2L/month looks rich until you ask one question: “How many bad months can you survive?” Income without optionality isn't wealth. It's just expensive dependence."
Another commented, "I earn 2.5L Pm, not facing any issues you mentioned. Depends on situations. I paid off my 40L HL in 4 years by pre paying 1L every month, did agressive savings. Finance manage is also important. Usually ppl move cities to cities for high paying jobs and endup in traps."
