In case you are in receipt of HRA from your employer, your employer will grant you an exemption in respect of your HRA. The amount of such exemption is least of 1) Actual HRA received 2) Excess of rent paid over 10% of your basic salary or 3) 505 of your basic salary if you are staying in metro city and 40% in case you are staying in other place. However in case you are not in receipt of any HRA and are still paying the rent you can claim deduction for such rent paid under Section 80 GG of the Income Tax Act. The deduction allowable shall be lowest of the following 1) Excess of rent paid over 10% of total income 2) Rs. 2,000/- per month 3) 25% of your total Income.

In case of your running home loan, you can claim tax benefits under section 80C in respect of principal repayment of home loan upto Rs. 1 lacs along with other eligible items like EPF, PPF, NSC, LIP, ELSS , tax saving FDs etc. For availing deduction under Section 80 C it is important that the loan should have been taken from specified institutions for purchase or construction of a residential house. In respect of money borrowed for the purpose of buying, constructing , repairing or renovating any property you can claim interest under Section 24b. The deduction shall be restricted to Rs. 1.50 lacs in case of one self occupied house property. In case the property is let out you can claim full interest as deduction. For claiming deduction of interest it is not necessary that you take loan from specified institutions. Even you can borrow from your friends and relatives.In case you have been sanction home loan during the financial year 2013-2014 for an amount not exceeding Rs. 25 lacs for a property value not exceeding Rs. 40 lacs, you can claim an additional deduction of Rs. 1 lac for the assessment year 2013-2014 provided you do not own any house on the date of sanction of the loan.

Currently National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) are offering Tax-free bonds. The rate of interest for individuals is 8.75% p.a. (NHAI) and 8.65% p.a. (IRFC) for a period of 15 years. The interest is paid annually. Please note the liquidity of such tax free bonds in the market is very low.

In case your salary is Rs. 6 lacs, your employer is liable to deduct tax on the salary being paid to you. In case your employer has not deducted tax at source, you need to pay the tax by way of advance tax. I presume that your taxable salary is Rs. 6 lacs. Your liability on taxable salary of Rs. 6 lacs will be Rs. 50,000/-. This is calculated as under: Nil tax on income upto Rs. 2 lacs. Rs. 30,000 (10% between 2 lacs and 5 lacs) and 20% on balance 10% (between 5 lacs to 6 lacs)

In case your employer has deducted more tax for the year than what was due on your salary income, you cannot claim the refund of such excess tax deducted from your employer. However you can file your income tax return and claim the refund for the excess tax deducted by your employer. Please note that you need to include all your taxable income in your return and calculate your tax liability accordingly.

Sectoral funds are good bets for you if you want to participate in specific sectors like this.

Five funds invested properly may be enough. But for very large portfolios one can consider some more funds. But, too many schemes does not constitute diversification and hence a good clutch of schemes is good enough. It also makes the portfolio easier to manage.