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Loans

What is Loan Tenure?

Updated 20 August 2026

The total time period over which a loan is scheduled to be fully repaid through regular EMIs, ranging from a few months to several decades depending on the loan type.

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Loan tenure simply refers to the total duration over which a loan is scheduled to be repaid in full through your regular EMIs — for example, a 20-year home loan or a 5-year car loan. Different loan types typically come with different maximum tenures, largely based on the nature and expected useful life of what's being financed.

There's an important trade-off with tenure: a longer tenure reduces your monthly EMI amount, making it easier to manage month to month, but it significantly increases the total interest you pay over the life of the loan. A shorter tenure means higher EMIs but considerably less total interest paid, which is why many financial planners suggest choosing the shortest tenure you can comfortably afford, rather than automatically stretching to the maximum available.

It's worth running the numbers on a few different tenure options before finalising a loan, since the total interest difference between a slightly shorter and longer tenure can be substantial.