5 free money management apps that actually helped me track every rupee spent
Managing personal finances can feel overwhelming, especially with the variety of payment methods available today. Many people find it difficult to keep track of expenses spread across digital wallets, cards, and cash. Fortunately, several free mobile apps can simplify this task by helping users monitor their spending and organise their money more effectively. Here are five notable apps that offer expense tracking and money management tools without any cost.
Axio, formerly known as Walnut, has gained over 10 million users and stands out as a reliable expense tracking app. It links your bank accounts and cards by detecting the mobile number associated with them. The app automatically pulls transaction data from SMS messages to log expenses. Users can set monthly budgets to allocate funds for specific needs. Additionally, Axio sends reminders for bills like credit card payments and utilities. For those facing short-term cash shortages, the app also provides select users access to pay-later and personal credit options.
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Loot focuses on helping users save money toward specific goals. It lets you set targets, such as saving for a trip, and calculates the daily amount needed to meet those goals on time. The app uses a virtual savings jar that fills up visually as you record deposits. Users can track progress daily, adjust goals, or delete saving jars they no longer need. Loot's design aims to motivate users with a simple, engaging interface. Many prefer Loot for short-term savings over standard banking apps because of its focused features and easy tracking.
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Mint, launched in 2006, offers a comprehensive finance management service with tools for budgeting, credit score monitoring, and alerts. The app supports mobile devices and integrates with Apple Watch. Users can connect all their online financial accounts to get an overview of their net worth and spending habits. However, Mint's services currently support only accounts based in the United States and Canada.
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Wallet serves as an all-in-one budget planner and expense tracker. Like Axio, it connects to bank accounts to import expense data automatically. The app provides detailed reports on spending patterns and cash flow. Users can also monitor stock investments and progress toward financial goals. Additional features include automatic cloud synchronisation, transaction location tracking, and debt management.
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Money Manager by RealByte Inc. offers detailed expense tracking and budgeting tools. It provides reports on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis and includes an asset manager for easier budgeting. A key feature is its double-entry bookkeeping system, which records income and expenses simultaneously to maintain accurate financial records. Users can customise categories, set start dates, back up transactions, and bookmark frequent entries. While the free version shows ads and limits assets to 15, it remains a useful tool for precise expense management.
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HDFC Life banks on broader playbook to keep its lead—but margins remain a worry
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'HDFC Life has delivered consistently over the years, driven by its focus on a balanced product mix and conservative operating assumptions," the brokerage said in a note last month. India's life insurance sector has been facing a slew of disruptions in recent years. In FY22, the Union government removed tax exemptions for unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) of over ₹2.5 lakh, and in FY24, for traditional savings products of over ₹5 lakh. In FY25, India's insurance regulator introduced tighter surrender value guidelines for insurers, which increased costs, disrupted distribution channels, and restructured distributor commercials. Padalkar said she is in favour of 'lighter touch regulations and not tweaking business models" for the sector. 'There has been a close correlation between changes in business model with the growth of the sector. As an industry and regulator, the need of the hour is to focus on expanding the pie." An expanding footprint and regulatory hurdles HDFC Life Insurance has more than 300 distribution partners, including small finance banks, non-banking financial companies, and new ecosystem players. In FY25, it added 40 bancassurance partnerships, under which partner banks distribute HDFC Life's products to their customers. Unlike other bank-backed insurers, HDFC Life operates an open architecture model, which means HDFC Bank Ltd sells insurance products of multiple insurers, including HDFC Life. Despite criticism of misselling via the bank insurance distribution model, Padalkar supports it, given the channel's 6-7-fold higher reach than the life insurance industry. Rising instances of such misselling in a hunt for higher commissions prompted a call by the Union finance ministry in November to curb such incidents. HDFC Life has a network of more than 650 branches and 240,000 agents. SBI Life Insurance is estimated to have more than 1,000 branches. But it follows under a closed architecture model, which means all branches of its promoter bank, State Bank of India, operate as SBI Life branches and only sell its products. Macquarie Research said in a recent note that HDFC Life would likely be the most affected if the government overhauls distribution or bancassurance regulations, given the insurer has the industry's highest bancassurance mix, 65%, of which HDFC Bank accounts for 70-80%. 'Our focus should be on strengthening processes, not on curtailing bancassurance. We need more distribution touch points, not fewer," Padalkar said, adding that the insurer is working on growing its proprietary channel faster than its overall growth rate. Behind the move is a conviction that financial services will remain 'phygital"—a combination of physical and digital distribution channels—especially in terms of higher value and long-term policies. 'Customers need guidance to commit to 7-10 years of premium payments based on their unique circumstances," Padalkar said. A chase for new customer segments As HDFC Life grows its distribution network, it expects bancassurance to account for a smaller percentage of its total business. 'This is precisely why we are investing in strengthening our distribution, which encompasses adding new branches and feet on street," Padalkar said. The insurer's distribution expansion includes venturing into tier-2 and tier-3 towns and cities where the presence of insurance companies continues to be limited, even as more customers seek insurance products. 'There is more than enough demand. The conversation is changing from 'why do I need to save for my old age?' to 'how much I will need,?' or is my insurance cover enough—all good questions," the managing director said. HDFC Life's growth in terms of percentage has been similar across tier 1, 2 and 3 cities—the contribution of tier-2 and tier-3 markets in the insurer's APE rose to 65% in FY25 from 58% in FY21. Another area of focus for HDFC Life is the non-resident Indian. In 2016, the insurer established a subsidiary in Dubai, which, in turn, has set up a branch at Gujarat's GIFT City, a global hub for financial and technology services. HDFC Life's GIFT City entity has launched eight dollar-denominated products so far. 'We are now offering NRIs the option to also avail multi-currency life and health insurance products through this offering," Padalkar said. NRIs currently account for about 8% of HDFC Life's overall portfolio. An evolving product mix HDFC Life typically quantifies a blockbuster product as one that garners at least ₹100 crore in premiums. 'This is how we dispassionately evaluate whether our product ideation has been received well by the market. Thus, despite volatility, our market share has steadily moved northwards," Padalkar said. The insurer's market share has improved to 11.1% from 10.4% in FY24. Among private life insurers, its market share, based on individual weighted received premium, is 15.7%, higher than 15.4% in FY24 but lower than 16.5% in FY23. Unit-linked plans comprised 39% of HDFC Life's individual APE in FY25, followed by non-participating savings products at 32%, participating products at 19%, and term and annuity policies at 5% each. The protection business contributed 27% to overall new business premiums during FY25, with retail protection APE growing 25%. Padalkar expects demand for Ulips to remain elevated. The insurer, however, is looking to moderate the share of Ulips and instead offer Ulips with enhanced protection through higher sum assured multiples and additional riders. 'Our aim is to keep Ulip mix a little less than one-third of our business," Padalkar said. Padalkar is also batting for the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) to introduce a composite licence, which she believes will be a 'game changer" as it will allow insurers to manufacture and distribute all classes of insurance products. "This would make our proposition holistic—a one-stop shop offering solutions for mortality, morbidity, longevity, and savings, all rolled into one. It will also help ease the claims process for policyholders," she said. HDFC Life Insurance is also overhauling its technology under an initiative called 'Project INSPIRE' to improve customer experience and enhance its 'go-to-market' capabilities. 'We are overhauling the entire customer journey to reduce friction from on-boarding onwards," Padalkar said, adding that this will also help enable high-value digital transactions. Pressure on margins and valuation The value of new business (VNB), which is the expected profitability from the new business written by an insurer, was at ₹3,960 crore for HDFC Life in FY25, up 13% on-year. However, its VNB margin in FY25 dropped to 25.6% from 26.3% in the previous year. According to Macquarie Research, the decline was due to an increase in unit-linked plans in HDFC Life's product mix and changes resulting from surrender value regulations. 'Management targets to maintain range-bound margin levels, which we believe could be around 25-27%. Further, it plans to grow its APE at a 17% CAGR over the next four years (not in a linear trajectory) as seen over FY21-25. This, we believe, remains a key monitorable," Macquarie Research said in a note. On a 5-year CAGR (compound annual growth rate) basis, HDFC Life's value of new business was 16%, and the embedded value was 22%. Embedded value is an indicator of the corporate value of life insurers, attributed to shareholders. It is calculated as the sum of 'adjusted net worth' or accumulated realised profits and 'value of in-force business' or estimated future profits. Phillip Capital estimates HDFC Life's VNB margin at 25.8-26.3% across FY26-28, with higher commission expenses keeping the cost ratio elevated. It expects the insurer's value of new business, on a CAGR basis across FY25-28, at 17%. 'HDFC Life has historically traded at a premium to other private life peers, but this has narrowed recently. With private peers showing improving metrics, this valuation gap may remain under pressure," the research firm said, pegging the insurer's stock at 2.6 times its FY27 price-to-embedded value (P/EV).
Mint
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Centre court to Oval: Cricket and tennis to drive demand for high-end sport tourism this month
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'Late June and early July is also the sweet spot for sports fans like me visiting the UK, as a lot of the holiday makers are returning home. We've lined up Day 2 at Wimbledon and Days 1 and 2 at Lord's. It's the ideal mix of tennis and cricket," he said. Karan Bhangay, founder of Indulge Global, noted growing inquiries for future global events. 'We see that a lot of our sports tourism clients are high networth individuals (HNIs), and a handful are also serious fans who save up for such experiences. Some are ultra-networth individuals (UHNIs) too, but mainly it is the HNIs who have started to live better, travel well and are in touch with global trends thanks to Instagram and other platforms." Appeal widens Rakesh Patel, founder of Bharat Army, said many Indian travellers now prefer sports tourism that doubles as a family vacation. 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Additionally, within our leisure business, due to the demand, we have introduced trips specially for the upcoming India-England Test match and Wimbledon," said Rajeev Kale, president and country head, holidays, meetings and visas, at Thomas Cook. 'With the release of the 2025-2026 global football fixtures as well, we're witnessing early interest for high-demand matches—with more momentum expected to build in the coming months." The India-England Test Series will be about ₹1.8-2.5 lakh per person (for 6-7 nights), according to Thomas Cook and Wimbledon will set you back ₹2.5-3.5 lakh per person (for 4-5 nights in London). For the 2025-26 Fifa football fixtures in the US, costs will be about ₹3-4 lakh per person (for 6-7 nights, mostly on the east coast). The costs for the events are on a twin-sharing basis, or two people per room, and do not include airfares. DreamSetGo, owned by Dream Sports, took around 1,500 Indians to the Champions Trophy in Dubai earlier this year, with 600 flying in just for the India-Pakistan match. The company expects demand for Wimbledon to triple this season, according to chief executive officer Monish Shah. 'The price value of these (events) is quite high, and that would require premium corporate movements like wealth managers taking their top clients for these events," he said. Love for sports Around 40% of DreamSetGo's business for events like Wimbledon comes from corporates, while the rest comes from individuals or families. Most of their travellers are HNIs. A majority—60%—still only want tickets for these events, which are priced upwards of several thousand to a lakh. They don't always want the whole package, which can then go into several lakhs per person. For instance, a one-day ticket for The Kia Oval Test match costs ₹2.3 lakh per person, excluding flights and accommodation. A four-day match experience could easily reach ₹10-15 lakh per person for Indian travellers. India's sports tourism market is still in its infancy but poised for rapid growth. A 2024 KPMG report valued the sector at $10.87 billion and projected a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18%, nearly double that of general leisure travel. Even niche sports like Formula 1 are gaining traction. A three-day race pass for Abu Dhabi F1 in December costs ₹3.5 lakh via DreamSetGo. Attending live sporting events has become a bucket list goal, said S.D. Nandakumar, president and country head, holidays and corporate tours, SOTC. 'This was once quite niche, but it now has a broader appeal to extend to families and young millennials and Gen Z travellers, particularly from cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Surat and Ahmedabad. Event-based tourism is expanding."
Mint
4 hours ago
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GVA data haze: Has India been overcounting the output of its informal sector?
Gift this article In his Statistically Speaking column published on 19 June in Mint ('India's informal sector is being tracked better than ever before'), former chief statistician of India T.C.A. Anant, while taking on those who argue India's GDP in the current series may be overestimated, has contended—among other things—that such criticism requires a more careful analysis. In his Statistically Speaking column published on 19 June in Mint ('India's informal sector is being tracked better than ever before'), former chief statistician of India T.C.A. Anant, while taking on those who argue India's GDP in the current series may be overestimated, has contended—among other things—that such criticism requires a more careful analysis. His article ends on the optimistic note that better-than-ever availability of timely and regular informal-sector data presents an opportunity for India's ongoing base-revision exercise to measure value added by the informal sector in a manner that offers more clarity. Also Read: India's informal sector isn't off the map: It's being tracked better than ever Overall, the informal (or unorganized) segment of the economy contributes 45% of the total gross value added (GVA) and accounts for 33% of the non-agriculture sector. For many sub-sectors within the non-agriculture sphere, value added for the base year is estimated as a product of GVA per worker (GVAPW) and the workforce—through what is called the 'labour-input method.' These benchmark estimates are then moved for later years as per the relevant selected indicators, like corporate growth, the volume/quantity index, sales tax and others. For 2011-12, the base year for the current series, the source of GVAPW data was the National Sample Survey 67th Round (2010-11). It is important to appreciate the definitional nuances involved, as these have a vital bearing on both the final estimates of GVA and their interpretation. In enterprise surveys, an 'own-account enterprise' is defined as a business that is run without any worker hired on a fairly regular basis, while an enterprise employing at least one paid worker is termed an 'establishment.' Further, an establishment with six or more workers is termed a 'directory establishment' (and the rest are 'non-directory establishments'). Also Read: Data deficiency: India needs to map its informal economy better In the 2011-12 series, base-year GVA estimates of the unorganized segments of many sectors—such as trade, hotels and restaurants, telecom and educational, health, real estate and professional services—in which the labour-input (direct or modified) method was adopted were made on the basis of a palpably higher GVAPW for establishments in rural areas and directory establishments in urban areas. This was done on the professed reasoning that '...most of the establishments in urban areas are Directory Establishments. This is also in consonance with the practice adopted in previous series." The use of GVAPW makes calculations complex. As a case study, consider the informal segment of the trade sector. To estimate its size, the GVAPW of directory establishments was used in the 1981 series. In 1999-2000 as well as 2004-05, the GVAPW used was that of 'all enterprises,' not just directory establishments. For 2011-12, that was changed, even though the contention cited above that most enterprises in urban areas are directory establishments was not correct, as the share of such establishments in the urban trade sector was merely 2.1% (see graphic above). This should be viewed alongside the fact that the GVAPW of directory establishments was placed at 2.40 times that of own-account enterprises (the vast majority with a 77.3% share). Likewise, in rural India, the estimated GVAPW of establishments (with a share of 11.4%) was 2.31 times that of own-account enterprises (the overwhelming majority with a share of 88.6%). So the method adopted for the base year 2011-12—which took a thin slice of relatively productive businesses to represent the whole—overcounted the value added per worker and would thus have resulted in a higher GVA figure. The patterns in other sectors are also more or less along the same lines. To illustrate, it may be seen from the above graphic that in trade, there is a significant decline in GVAPW growth among all categories of workers during 2015-22 in comparison with 2010-15, while in the National Accounts, informal trade is seen to have grown annually at a rate of 10% over the period 2015-22. This gap is too wide for changes in the workforce during that period to account for it. A similar trend is observed in other sectors too. It is highly probable that apart from base-year estimates, subsequent growth rates in these informal segments have been overestimated in India's National Accounts, particularly after 2015-16. In our opinion, the only debatable issue is the extent of this overestimation. Also Read: TCA Anant: How India's statistical system could win the ongoing war of narratives Data from agriculture is generally not commented upon much. However, Drèze and Oldiges ('India's Puzzling Cereal Gap,' published in Down To Earth on 3 January 2025) have highlighted significant and increasing data gaps between the production of cereals (like wheat and rice) and all their known uses, reaching nearly 70 million tonnes in 2022-23, enough to feed half a billion people for one year. India's gap between net cereal availability and household consumption is stated to have started widening around 2008. While it was only around 30 million tonnes in 2011, the gap had grown enormously by 2022-23. Is India's cereal production overestimated? This issue needs to be settled, lest it also leads to GVA overestimation. Also Read: GDP's dirty little secret: Why we should be tracking GVA instead Since the Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation proposes to start conducting its survey on the informal sector annually, it is acceptable to argue that it is being tracked more closely. The jury, however, is still out on whether the informal sector is actually being tracked better. Before adoption, it is advisable to analyse these results for their utility in sectoral GVA estimation. Else, it may end up raising more questions about the economy instead of delivering the clarity we hope for. These are the authors' personal views. The authors are, respectively, former additional director general and director general, ministry of statistics and programme implementation, Government of India. Topics You May Be Interested In
