EEducation planner

Education costs in India have been rising at 8–12% annually — well above CPI inflation (~5%). Private engineering colleges, MBBS seats, and especially overseas education have seen even steeper hikes. This is driven by limited quality seats, rising infrastructure costs, faculty salaries, and growing demand. Starting early and accounting for a realistic 9–10% inflation rate is essential for education planning.

If your child is more than 7 years away from the education goal, equity SIPs are recommended — the volatility risk is manageable over that horizon and returns significantly outpace inflation. With 3–5 years remaining, shift partly to balanced funds. With less than 3 years to go, move to debt funds or FDs to protect the corpus from market swings. Glide-path investing is the key strategy.

Time is the biggest variable. A parent starting when the child is 2 years old needs a much smaller monthly SIP than one who starts at age 12. With 2 years to goal versus 12 years, the required monthly SIP can be 4–6× higher. Starting now — even with a smaller amount — is almost always better than waiting for a "better time."

Yes, SSY is an excellent floor for a daughter's education fund. It offers 8.20% interest (tax-free, EEE status) and partial withdrawal of 50% is allowed after the daughter turns 18 for education purposes. The limitation is the ₹1.5L annual deposit cap. Combine SSY as a guaranteed-return floor with equity SIPs for the upside corpus.