Mahesh Kapasi: The Loan-Credit is really a trap as once you take a loan you pay interest on it and naturally principal amount is also to be repaid. There is a famous saying "Jitni chadar ho utne pair pasaro" (Spend as per your income). Credit is now as easily available as is evident from telephone advertising calls for credit from various banks and for credit card. The trap is laid by saying it is free of cost but there are always interest implications and some charges etc. So before one is lured by freebies one must read the terms and conditions -in between lines- in small prints as charges etc are mentioned there. Remember nothing is free. One has to pay for the services or credit. If one has the capacity to pay I think then one has the capacity to buy without credit-the installments one is required to pay for principal and interest over a number of years (time) one can save that much and buy the required goods- comparing with the term of credit- before that term- with proper planning and save interest and one-time charges etc. Yes, unless that commodity is immediately required.

The necessity depends upon the individual's requirement. But with credit facilities and credit card one is easily tempted to buy unnecessary goods too. Don't be extravagant. Unless one has strong will power to postpone unnecessary purchases one should not go for credit facilities.

In personal life at least one should avoid credit card and credit limits. In business credit to some extent is permissible.

The future is uncertain if one is required to pay installments over a long period; there may be changes in job, more financial responsibilities and he may find it extremely difficult to pay the installments and by credit one works for others and not for self- just to pay the instalmenmts.

In extreme cases credit has resulted in fatal consequences- suicides etc too. Some people cannot sleep well when there is a debt on their head- money due to some and the same is not paid in time. So spiritually limit your desires and needs -live within financial means -capacity to earn and die in peace!

Anil Purohit: Times have certainly changed the anthem of an entire generation of credit-happy customers. Buy now; pay later - bait all of us have been lured by some time or the other. Debt is disguised poverty. Debt trap is like a maze - it is very difficult to come out of it. Once you become a victim of a high interest loan, you keep on taking out new loans to repay the old ones. There's much pain after the pleasure, one of the main causes is unlimited desires and limited income and injudicious use of various credit products on offer.

The Indian dream is a risky hallucination, debt functions as a social control mechanism, making us anything but "free". Borrowers better beware! A new breed of BRAIN EATERS on the prowl. In a society which permits interest, the strong benefit from the suffering of the weak, resulting in conflicts, social-disorders, losing sleep because of money worries; hiding financial papers from other family members, telling lies to yourself and others about how much you owe.

Banks are hell bent upon thrusting a loan down your throat, whether you can digest one or not. Personal loan, home loan, car loan, this loan, that loan...loan, loan, loan. You can ask the farmer, who has just left for the local moneylender's place to borrow funds and to get sucked deeper and deeper into the debt trap, but cry all the while paying back because of their scrupulous dealings.

Why are so many people in so much debt - the so-called "Sun shining" economy that the mainstream profess. The only worthwhile advice applicable to all cases of personal debt is: lose your naivety concerning the role of debt in the economic system. Consider yourself naive if you think you live in a free market.

Subhash C Agrawal: Frequent hike in floating interest-rates on home-loans is proving disastrous for majority of middle-income persons especially for salaried class having taken home-loans. Jerks in floating rates lure commoners to avail loan when rates are low, and disturb family-budgets and future planning of home-economy when these are high. Even small investors had to bear effect of sensex-fall due to continuous rise in interest-rates on bank-loans. Such trend of interest-rise may even lead to a new trend of suicidal deaths like has been unfortunately by farmers in several states only due to loans. System of floating-rates of interest on home-loans should be frozen immediately to fixed-rates for both prevailing and future home-loans. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should restore old system of regulating interest-rates on loans and deposits to be uniform for all banks. Free economy should in no way be allowed to obstruct freedom to life.

KY Jacob: Nowadays it is easy to get loans. People do not always land themselves in endless trouble by taking loans. However, there have been instances where people have landed into trouble and not been able to pay back loans with interest.

Loan is a type of debt. If a man takes loan like home loan, personal loan, education loan, secured loan, agricultural loan, etc, he should very seriously think and plan well in advance whether he will be able to pay back the loan with interest regularly. If one takes loan for agriculture or business purpose, its payment depends upon the income he will get out of it. If the agriculture/business income out of the loan is not sufficient or nil due to crop/business failure, how one will be able to pay back the loan with interest? If any poor person takes loans for his child's education and after education if the child gets no job of good package, how he will be able to pay back the loan amount with interest? If a man starts industry by taking loan, the payment depends upon income he gets out of the industry. So before taking loans, there is a need to think and plan seriously. A person then needs to go ahead with a clear picture in mind whether he will be able to get good regular return out of the investment he made by taking loan.

Success and failures are always noticed. When one takes loan, the payment depends upon the income he will get out of it. If one does not get sufficient income out of the loan amount invested, he lands himself in endless financial trouble. There are growing incidences that the people burdened with debt are forced to commit suicides and become poor and even beggars. Under such circumstances, government is compelled to pay compensation to the burdened people. Proper criteria should be fixed before giving loans.

Many people are getting benefits out of loans and become economically sound. The increased loan facilities has enabled developmental activities and growth not only across the country but also across world.

Manish Chamlikar: Beware of the python.

In the blind race of materialism, people are running towards the cobweb of loans. It's beyond my understanding why people are becoming victims of this cobweb? Moreover they are enjoying the loans! What a painful and wonderful act is this. It is true that sometimes loans help medium class people to fulfil their dreams to build a house. But at the same time it has been seen that people are taking loans beyond their limits and after it they run here and there to repay the loan.

So it is suggested to think twice or thrice about the repayment of the loans. A good planning before taking a loan is the need of the hour. Strategic payment option is very necessary to take profits from the loan, within the prescribed time frame. Study thoroughly about the mode of interest and its payment.

Loans play a major role like a prophet to turn our dreams into reality. So analytical strategy for the payment option will be beneficial.

So let's move forward with a positive bend of mind to get loan to realise the dreams. It's up to you how you decide on the loan.

Think twice before a big leap.

RK Kutty: Of course, thoughtless fall back on loans, when it is easily available in these days where sufficient fluid money is available with nationalized banks as well as several other private-sector banks/financial institutions in the country, is the real cause of worry. Primarily, it is an individual's responsibility to make sure when he takes loan that he can pay it back according to the repayment schedule. The main motivating factor for individuals to fall back on loans is the fast changing life-style. They then knowingly forget the time-tested, experimented sayings of the oldies that 'one should spread his/her legs according to the size of the sheet'.

In these days of cut-throat competition for anything and everything, it is very difficult to make both ends meet. Cost of living in metropolitan, capital and other cities in India is soaring very high. Rate of inflation, though government claim, is under control, but things are not looking that easy for our financial experts in the MOF to put price rise under check. Cost of 1/2 a litre of dairy milk (gold) has risen from Rs 10.50 to Rs 11/- within a short duration of 4-5 months. Educational institutions are on the prowl how to jack up the fees, bus fares, and other paraphernalia from session to session. Parents cultivate the fashion that whatever may be their monthly source of income, their wards must study in the best of schools as a status symbol. Also, they nurture the hope to have a house of their own, then a modern four wheeler which is the hot chase of every lower, middle and upper income group, no matter the fuel cost may sky rocket. This hot chase of the citizenry creates endless problems in other front as well. While on the roads, modern motorbikes took over the bicycle space, cars of all hues and shapes are on the increase on a day-to-day basis. The governments are finding it extremely difficult to widen the roads. The pressing need of this has been felt by the Delhi Administration who is forced to cut several old, grown up trees against which concerned citizenry filed petitions to the President, looking to the onslaught of the climate change phenomenon which is staring at the human race as a whole. So, where are we heading to is the disturbing question?

People's mentality to fall back on loans, unmindful of their repaying capacity; need to be re-looked/reviewed not only by the loan seekers but also by the lending banks/institutions/agencies The number of suicides taking place all across the country, mainly due to failure to repay, is a real testimony to this reality. While we can have the details of people of lower strata like farmers, or some middle level, white coloured, salaried class, there is feeble number of big guns, industrialists or even the political class who too draw loans worth crores from nationalized banks or lending agencies. In their cases, ultimately, the amounts are written off as bad debts. But, in the case of a poor farmer, artisans, or small scale industry sector, such write off occurs only when sometimes the whole family commits suicide. This is not only horrendous but also utterly unjust.

RJ Khurana: I'll first take the `No' answer first. No business can be run without borrowing. An entrepreneur spends days on working on a business enterprise asking himself a number of questions such as: What business do I start and why? What will be the capital investment? Where from will this capital come? What will be the production like? What will be the demand of the product in the market? What will be the profit after paying for the raw material, labour and other value adding expenditure? How much will I have to pay towards interest? And so on. After carefully making all the calculations in details he starts the work. Unforeseen developments aside, he makes a lot of cold calculations and only when he is satisfied about the viability of the venture, he initiates various processes.

Other things being equal, he succeeds in making profits and is in a position to pay off the loans and still has the funds to keep his business running. This is called good entrepreneurship. Here loan is not bad. In fact as said above no businessman starts a business/venture with his own money. He sets up a business with loans and having achieved a certain measure of stability, enters into the share market to raise more funds.

There is a rider here.

Some enterprises like agriculture are risk-prone Even with the best of efforts, weather, pests, insects and natural calamities like floods and storms may undo the best of efforts. Given these undependables, returns on agriculture are uncertain. Unfortunately, under these conditions farmers get into debt traps that may ultimately lead to suicides. The solution is more and cheap loans and not no or less loans. Also, in such cases crop insurance may be the answer.

Some individuals borrow to buy luxury items without paying any thought to repayments. That is real bad. For people such as this loans are a curse.

Whether by taking loan you buy endless happiness or land yourself in endless trouble will thus depend on whether you spend the amount you borrow on making more money or blowing up the loan on luxuries. There are a good number of people that fall in both the categories.