Can Indian income tax benefits be obtained on the personal loan taken NOT for buying home ?

If the Loan is for the Purpose of Housing then the Interst only allowed if it is for other purpose U cannot deduct even interest.Can Indian income tax benefits be obtained on the personal loan taken NOT for buying home ?
Interest on personal loan is not exempt from income tax.Can Indian income tax benefits be obtained on the personal loan taken NOT for buying home ?
In case of personal loans used for buying house, only interest is allowed as deduction (Principal repayment u/s 80c is not allowed).





But if the loan is taken from a Home loan institution like ICICI Bank, HDFC Ltd %26amp; LIC, then one can clain both interest paid to them and the pricipul amount repaid to them through EMI.





Tax benifits eligabulity:


Interest on housing loan Max. Rs.1.5 lakhs per year In both cases)





Principul repayment Max. Rs.1 lakh per year U/s 80C. (Only if the loan is taken from institutions)
For any personal loan, the interest paid is generally not deductible. But if the loan is utilised in earning any income (business or otherwise) which you are disclosing in your Return of Income and in a position to authentically relate the loan - fully or partly - with earning that income, then the interest and other expenses can be claimed as deduction.





There is no other way of benefitting from personal loan under the Indian Income tax law of 1961 as amended till date.





Generally such loans should be planned in such a way that some source of income gets tagged. Loans for personal consumption or household effects are not entitled for Income tax concessions. Similarly loan for education, marriage, travelling etc also do not qualify for such concessions.





Generally some institutions like ICICI, HDFC, LIC etc make loans for Housing and vehicle requirements. They generally donot provide loans for other purposes to Salaried people because they can lay their heavy hands easily and quickly in case of default on these assets and recover their lendings. In that case also loan repayments in the shape of EMIs get entitled to I.Tax concessions, but that, I suppose, is not your angle of query.
No Tax concessions for Personal Loan availed for personal expenditure.


However Interest component on loans availed for housing, education (In some cases upto 100% - personal/children) are eligible for consideration of tax benefits.