Prepay the home loan or invest the same EMI amount?

One cash flow, two different certainties

An extra payment toward the home loan cuts principal now. The interest you avoid is roughly known from the outstanding rate (before tax effects). The same rupees in an equity SIP have an uncertain path: they may beat the loan rate over a long stretch, or lag after a weak decade. Debt funds and deposits sit in between.

So the question is not "what does a brochure return." It is whether you want a guaranteed saving equal to the loan rate, or a market outcome you can live with.

Order the boring risks first

Keep the emergency fund. Clear costlier debt (cards, high personal loans) before debating an 8–9% home loan. If the floating home rate is already low and you have no buffer, investing while staying one job loss from a bounce is bravado, not optimisation.

In the old tax regime, section 24(b) interest deduction on a self-occupied house has a cap; prepaying reduces that deduction over time. The tax given up is usually smaller than interest saved, but it belongs in the compare.

Run both tools on the same surplus

Take the amount you could prepay this year. Use the prepayment calculator with reduce-tenure if cash-flow allows. Separately, run that amount as a lumpsum or a monthly SIP for the years left on the loan at a return you actually believe—not a peak year. Whichever story you pick, stick to it long enough that fees and second-guessing do not erase the edge.