This is a site you will
come to for complete information on your personal finance
requirements, whether it is taking loans or making investments.
Information on housing finance is provided separately for
resident and non-resident Indians with the various schemes
available from different companies, the interest rates, documents
required and fees to be paid. The help centre contains FAQs, a
glossary and checklists for buying property. Similar info is
available for automobile finance. If you're going in for a credit
card, you can compare the different cards available, get info on
eligibility criteria, card charges, services available and the
documents you will need for procuring a card. Here you can also
learn about the various fixed income investment schemes available
and if you're interested in the stock market, you can follow the
equitymaster.com link provided. A useful section for planning
your investments is the asset review, where, after filling in a
few details, you are advised where you should park your funds to
best suit your needs. A few nifty calculators help you along in
matters like finding out EMIs on loans and returns on investments.My Iris
This is one of the older
personal finance information sites whose home page features
finance related news. Here you also get the latest info on the
markets -- live quotes, top gainers/losers, circuit breakers and
the top 10 companies by turnover. The 'Tool Kit' offers you
information, comparison charts and analysis in a jiffy. Here you
can get quotes, NAVs and the information on the performance of
different funds instantly. Then, you can use the returns
calculator to find out just how much you can expect to earn from
different schemes. In the mutual fund section, all the leading
schemes are listed so that you can compare them and select what
is best suited to your requirements. You can also search for a
scheme by entering your own criteria. Each of the various
sections have what is termed as 'Myiris Univ' which offers
primers, FAQs and a glossary relating to that section. And, to
begin and end your financial day with a prayer to Ganesha, there
is a link to the 'Puja Room.' Paisapower
Now Paisapower
is a site which does not stop at information but actually helps
you go whole hog -- get the loan sanctioned and acquire for the
product you need, or make your investment online and start
earning your returns. Among the products you can acquire are a
home, car, consumer durables, insurance policy, a holiday package,
time shares in a holiday project or a credit card. Various
schemes are listed from different companies for both loans and
investments. You can compare these and select the one that best
suits your needs. After that, you make your application online
and Paisapower takes on from there. The people at the site make
contact with their approved dealer or service-provider nearest
your place of stay for processing your application and seeing it
through till you finally get your product delivered at your
doorstep. The model followed is what is known as 'Click 'n Mortar'
whereby the site moves on from being just a content provider to
one which provides actual fulfillment. The site has tied up with
major banks like Citibank, ICICI, Standard Chartered, HDFC etc,
and with leading companies in the field of asset management,
insurance and travel. Associates India
This Delhi-based
site is essentially for loans. Besides Delhi, the service covers
some other major towns, but not Mumbai. After choosing your
location, you can click on the products listed which include
computers, cars, household appliances and other equipment. There
is also a section called Home Returns, where loans are offered
against residential property. A handy loan calculator allows the
customer to find out the exact monthly installment after entering
the loan amount, item and tenure that he requires.Sharekhan
There are many
equity-trading sites now available, but we chose Sharekhan for
this column as it has certainly made life easier for day traders
by becoming WAP-enabled. The Wireless Application Protocol
enables you to download stock quotes from this site onto your
mobile device (Palm Top, mobile phone etc) so that you are in
touch with the latest info no matter where you are. And you can
not just get the info, but actively trade online. For this, you
need a trading account and a securities account with S S Kantilal
Ishwarlal Securities Ltd, the sponsors of Sharekhan and a bank
account with Global Trust Bank or HDFC bank. You can, of course,
opt for the slower way of paying by cheque. The equities traded
should be held in demat form. A provision at the site enables you
to track your investments online. If you're new to e-trading,
check out the primer and the FAQ which provides all the necessary
details.Mutualfunds India
Here's a vortel which
deals with only one aspect of personal finance: mutual funds.
This is the most dynamic vehicle for investment as the funds are
spread over a number of companies and generally offer a fine mix
of security and high yield. Here, you get comprehensive details
like the latest NAV, fund facts, and performance portfolio of
over 500 schemes. It enables you to find a fund to suit your
requirement, monitor your favourite fund's performance, and get a
brief profile and views of the fund managers of your schemes. You
also get news about the latest dividend declarations, book
closures and schemes rolled over. At the moment there is
provision for online investment only in the Prudential ICICI
schemes. However, the site lists other schemes for which you can
at least apply online. India Infoline
India Infoline is a complete
financial site with features to excite anyone dealing with money,
whether professionally or as a lay investor. To begin with, there
is the live ticker giving latest rates at the stock market. The
BSE Sensex is graphically represented everyday with the highs and
lows. Then, you can create and track your personal portfolio. The
personal finance section is quite comprehensive with all major
areas — banking, mutual funds, fixed deposits, personal
loans, stock market, car loans etc — well represented. We
particularly liked the interactive ‘Analyser’ which
helps you find the optimum investment mix to suit your unique
requirements. You just fill in the form with details like your
age, present earnings, expected future earnings, composition of
your total assets, the kind of risk you’d like to take etc,
and submit. In a jiffy you are presented with the right mix for
your investment. Another utility in these taxing times is the tax
calculator, where, if you’re just a salaried person, you can
say goodbye to your CA. 
While all the financial options on
this site like auto loans, mutual funds, credit cards etc are
relevant to Americans, the calculator feature here is universally
useful. You have a choice of are a hundred calculators which can
provide you with instant calculations about things like what is
the yield to maturity of a particular bond, what is your
investment worth after making allowances for the taxman and
inflation, and what will it take to become a millionaire. Just
fill in the figures you know, like amount you want to save, your
tax rate and inflation rate and in next to no time you will get
figures, charts, graphs and explanations. The Finance Center even
lets you put some of its calculators on your own site. 
Need a personal investment advisor?
Try logging into IndiaInvest. After you register, you get a
personal page where you can customise the news headlines from
major business dailies, graphs and market commentaries, and add
your favourite links. You can create your home page and also
register yourself at specific neighbourhoods which share your
business interests. There is a section which lets you track your
investments with the facility to program your e-mail (provided
from this site) to inform you when the market prices fall below,
or rise above specified limits, so that you can take remedial
action at once. Other features include some nifty calculators,
personal planners and investment advice from stalwarts in the
financial field. 
When you’ve got to be so
cautious in making an investment today, any kind of knowledge of
the markets as well as advice on investing from reliable sources
are always to be welcomed. An Indian site which gives you just
this is Dhan. Here you can find a regular column on finance by
Sucheta Dalal, investment advice from Kanu Doshi, and a lot of
other information provided from well-known experts in the
financial field. So whether it is real estate, mutual funds,
bonds, or just small savings you are looking at, there is
definitely something for you here. There are also some
calculators for PPF, forex, fixed deposit returns, and EMI on car
and housing loans. The annual Union budget is also covered with
links to the finance minister’s budget speech. The site is
updated regularly and new features keep popping out at you.