87a

Sec 87 A of the Act is applicable to all resident individuals (not senior citizens) whose income is less than Rs 5,00,000.

"An assessee, being an individual resident in India, whose total income does not exceed five hundred thousand rupees, shall be entitled to a deduction, from the amount of income-tax (as computed before allowing the deductions under this Chapter) on his total income with which he is chargeable for any assessment year, of an amount equal to hundred per cent of such income-tax or an amount of two thousand rupees, whichever is less."

87A comes in Ch VIII it is clear that Ch VI-A deduction is allowable for the calculation of the limit.

Hence the total income means that income as computed after Ch VI A deductions.

Hope this helped !!