The SIP Calculator
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- Step-up SIP, by percentage or fixed amount
- Goal planning, solved back to the SIP you need
- Lumpsum on its own, or alongside a SIP
- Withdrawal plans, and how long the money lasts
- Inflation-adjusted value in today's money
- Expense ratio drag and capital gains tax
- XIRR, CAGR and the cost of delaying
- Year-by-year ledger and a full report to download
- Engine
- Month by month
- Modes
- 5
- Currency
- INR
- Invested
- ₹18.0 L
- Gains
- ₹32.5 L
- Multiple
- 2.80×
Your plan
Costs, inflation & tax
Where the money comes from
How it builds, year by year
Year-by-year schedule
Corpus over time, side by side
What this SIP calculator actually does
A SIP calculator answers one question: if you invest a fixed amount every month into a mutual fund, what is it worth at the end? The arithmetic is not hard. Almost every calculator online stops at the friendliest possible version of it. They project a gross return, ignore the expense ratio you actually pay, ignore that ₹1 crore in 2046 is not ₹1 crore today, and ignore the tax due when you redeem.
This one carries the number all the way through. It simulates every single instalment month by month rather than applying a closed-form shortcut, which is what lets it handle step-up SIPs, a lump sum sitting alongside the SIP, and expense drag with the same precision as a plain flat SIP. Then it shows you four versions of the answer: the gross corpus, the corpus after costs, what it is worth in today's money, and what you keep after tax.
The formula, and a worked example
A SIP is not one investment. It is a series of them, each compounding for a different length of time, your first instalment grows for the full tenure, your last one for a month. Summing that series gives the standard future-value-of-an-annuity formula:
That trailing × (1 + i) is the part most explanations skip. A SIP instalment is debited at the start of the month, so it earns a full month of growth: an annuity due, not an ordinary annuity. Leave it out and you understate a 20-year SIP by about 1%.
Step-up SIP: the single highest-return tweak on this page
A step-up SIP (also called a top-up SIP) raises the instalment once a year. Set it to 10% and a ₹10,000 SIP becomes ₹11,000 in year two, ₹12,100 in year three, and so on. It costs you nothing today, tracks the way salaries actually move, and the compounding effect is large because the increases land early enough to work. A 10% annual step-up adds roughly 45% to a 10-year corpus, 72% over 15 years and 99% over 20.
| Annual step-up | Total invested | Final corpus | vs flat SIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% (flat) | ₹24.0 L | ₹99.9 L | , |
| 5% | ₹39.7 L | ₹1.37 Cr | +37% |
| 10% | ₹68.7 L | ₹1.99 Cr | +99% |
| 15% | ₹1.23 Cr | ₹3.03 Cr | +203% |
Read that table carefully, a step-up is not free money, you are investing considerably more. The point is the ratio: at 10% step-up you invest 2.9× as much and end with 2.0× as much, because the later money has less time to compound. It is still the easiest way to close a gap between what you can invest now and what your goal needs.
Working backwards: how much SIP do I need?
Most people arrive with a goal, not an instalment, a house deposit, a child's education, ₹5 crore at 60. Switch to Goal → SIP above and the calculator solves the equation in reverse, searching for the exact instalment that lands on your target. It handles step-up and an existing lump sum in the same solve, so "I already have ₹8 lakh invested and can raise my SIP 10% a year" is a question it answers directly.
| Time you have | SIP for ₹1 crore | You invest | Market provides |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 years | ₹43,041 | ₹51.6 L | ₹48.4 L |
| 15 years | ₹19,819 | ₹35.7 L | ₹64.3 L |
| 20 years | ₹10,009 | ₹24.0 L | ₹76.0 L |
| 25 years | ₹5,270 | ₹15.8 L | ₹84.2 L |
| 30 years | ₹2,833 | ₹10.2 L | ₹89.8 L |
The last column is the entire argument for starting early. Over 10 years you supply most of the crore yourself. Over 30, the market supplies 90% of it and your job is mostly to not interrupt.
The three numbers that make a projection honest
1. Expense ratio
The expense ratio is charged on your entire balance every year, not on the instalment. That is why it compounds against you. On a ₹10,000 SIP over 25 years at 12% gross, the difference between a 0.6% direct plan (₹1.71 crore) and a 1.8% regular plan (₹1.38 crore) is roughly ₹32 lakh. It is the largest controllable cost in the whole exercise and it never appears on a fund's returns page, because published NAV returns are already net of it.
2. Inflation
₹1 crore in 20 years at 6% inflation has the purchasing power of about ₹31 lakh today. Planning a goal in future rupees and then feeling satisfied is the most common way to under-save. The calculator divides your projected corpus by (1 + inflation)years so you can judge the outcome in money you recognise. If the real number disappoints you, that is the calculator working correctly.
3. Tax
Under current Indian rules, equity mutual fund units held more than 12 months attract long-term capital gains tax at 12.5%, with the first ₹1.25 lakh of such gains exempt in a financial year. Units held 12 months or less are short-term, taxed at 20%. Debt funds purchased on or after 1 April 2023 are taxed at your income slab rate regardless of holding period.
CAGR, XIRR, and absolute return, three different answers
These get used interchangeably and they are not the same thing.
- Absolute return is just total gain ÷ total invested. It ignores time completely, so a 100% absolute return over 5 years and over 25 years look identical. Useful for a headline, useless for comparison.
- CAGR assumes one lump sum, invested once, on one date. It is the correct measure for a lumpsum investment and the wrong one for a SIP.
- XIRR is the rate that makes a series of dated cash flows balance against the final value. Since a SIP is a series of dated cash flows, XIRR is the honest answer, and it is what every fund statement and CAS reports.
One thing that surprises people: a SIP quoted at a nominal 12% shows an XIRR near 12.68%. Nothing is wrong. Earning 1% a month twelve times is worth more than 12% once, because (1.01)12 = 1.1268. The industry convention of dividing the annual rate by 12 quietly assumes monthly compounding, and XIRR simply reports the effective rate that results. Switch the compounding basis in the advanced panel to see both conventions.
Five ways people get this wrong
- Assuming 15% because a fund did 15% recently. Trailing returns are dominated by whichever three-year window they end in. Plan at 10 to 12% and stress-test at 8%.
- Setting a goal in today's rupees and saving toward it in future rupees. A ₹50 lakh education goal 18 years out is a ₹1.43 crore problem at 6% inflation.
- Stopping the SIP when markets fall. This is the one decision that reliably destroys a SIP's advantage. Falling markets are when the instalment buys the most units.
- Ignoring the expense ratio because published returns already look fine. They do, and that is the point: you never see the fee, you only see the smaller number it produced.
- Waiting for a better entry point. Delaying a ₹10,000 SIP by five years on a 25-year plan drops the corpus from ₹1.90 crore to ₹1.00 crore, a ₹90 lakh cost against roughly ₹6 lakh of instalments skipped. Turn on the delay test in the advanced panel.
Frequently asked questions
How is SIP return calculated?
Each instalment compounds for a different period, so the total is the sum of a geometric series: FV = P × [((1+i)n − 1) ÷ i] × (1+i), with i the monthly rate and n the number of instalments. The final (1+i) reflects that SIP money goes in at the start of the month.
This calculator does not use the formula directly, it simulates each instalment, because the formula breaks the moment you add a step-up or a lump sum. The simulation gives the same answer for a flat SIP and stays correct for everything else.
What is a step-up or top-up SIP?
An instruction to raise your instalment automatically each year, usually by a fixed percentage. Almost every AMC and platform supports it. Against a flat SIP at 12%, a 10% annual step-up adds about 45% over 10 years, 72% over 15 and 99% over 20, and it costs nothing in the first year.
How much SIP do I need for ₹1 crore?
At 12%: about ₹43,041 a month for 10 years, ₹19,819 for 15 years, ₹10,009 for 20 years, ₹5,270 for 25 years, or ₹2,833 for 30 years. Use the Goal → SIP mode for your own target, tenure and return assumption, it also handles step-up and any lump sum you already hold.
Is 12% a realistic assumption?
It is the conventional planning figure for diversified Indian equity and broadly in line with the Nifty 50 TRI over very long horizons. It is not a promise. Returns arrive unevenly, one decade delivers 18%, the next 6%. Plan at 10 to 12%, check what 8% does to your goal, and treat anything above 15% as luck rather than a plan.
Why is the inflation-adjusted number so much lower?
Because it is the truthful one. At 6% inflation, ₹1 crore twenty years out buys what roughly ₹31 lakh buys today. The calculator divides the projected corpus by (1 + inflation)years. If the real figure falls short of your goal, raise the SIP, extend the tenure, or add a step-up, the projection is telling you something useful.
How is tax on SIP returns calculated?
Equity funds: units held over 12 months are long-term, taxed at 12.5% on gains above a ₹1.25 lakh annual exemption. Units held 12 months or less are short-term, taxed at 20%. Debt funds bought on or after 1 April 2023 are taxed at your slab rate regardless of holding period.
Because each SIP instalment has its own purchase date, a redemption is taxed lot by lot on a FIFO basis. This calculator's tax figure is an estimate on total gains, not a lot-level computation. Tax law changes, confirm current rates before acting on the number.
CAGR or XIRR, which should I look at?
XIRR, for a SIP. CAGR assumes a single investment on a single date, which describes a lumpsum, not a series of instalments. XIRR accounts for when each rupee actually went in. A SIP at a nominal 12% produces an XIRR near 12.68% because of monthly compounding.
Does the expense ratio really matter that much?
Yes, because it is levied on the accumulated balance rather than the instalment, so it grows as your corpus grows. Over 25 years on a ₹10,000 SIP at 12% gross, a 0.6% direct plan reaches ₹1.71 crore against ₹1.38 crore for a 1.8% regular plan, a gap of roughly ₹32 lakh. Switching from regular to direct plans of the same fund is the cleanest return improvement available to a retail investor.
What does delaying my SIP cost?
Far more than the instalments you skip, because the skipped ones are the longest-compounding. On a 25-year, ₹10,000 plan at 12%, a five-year delay takes the corpus from ₹1.90 crore to ₹1.00 crore, ₹90 lakh lost against roughly ₹6 lakh of instalments not paid. Enable the delay test in the advanced panel to see it for your own numbers.
Lump sum or SIP?
If markets rise over your holding period, a lump sum invested today wins, because it is invested for longer. A SIP wins on behaviour: no timing decision, an averaged purchase price, and a schedule that matches how income arrives. With a windfall, a common compromise is to deploy it over 6 to 12 months via an STP while the monthly SIP continues. You can model both together here by adding a one-time investment alongside the SIP.
Can a SIP lose money?
Yes. A SIP is a payment method, not a product, it inherits the risk of the fund it buys. Indian equity SIPs have gone through multi-year stretches of negative returns. The averaging benefit only materialises if you keep paying through the fall, which is precisely when most investors stop.
How accurate is this calculator?
The engine simulates every instalment month by month, so step-up, lumpsum, expense drag and frequency all compound exactly as they would in reality. Reverse solves (goal → SIP, safe withdrawal) are computed numerically to the rupee. Verified against the industry-standard case: ₹10,000 monthly at 12% for 10 years returns ₹23,23,391.
The one deliberate approximation is capital gains tax, estimated on total gains rather than FIFO lots. Every other figure is exact given your inputs, which are, of course, assumptions about an unknowable future.