SIP Calculator

What this calculator does

The SIP Calculator projects what a regular investment could grow to. You supply the contribution, the frequency, an expected annual return and a tenure, and it returns the future value, the total invested, and the estimated gain separately — the separation being the point, because it shows how much of the projection is your own money.

Contributions can be monthly, quarterly or yearly, and the engine compounds at that frequency. It treats each contribution as made at the start of the period, which is the annuity-due convention: the final period earns a return too.

Additional sections cover step-up SIP (an annual top-up, either a percentage or a fixed amount), inflation adjustment to show real purchasing power, a SIP-versus-lump-sum comparison, a goal-based mode that solves for the contribution needed to reach a target, a two-plan comparison, and a year-by-year growth schedule.

How to use it

1. Enter your contribution and frequencyMonthly, Quarterly or Yearly. The amount presets run from ₹1K to ₹1 Lakh. The frequency changes the compounding period, not just the label.
2. Enter an expected annual returnThe presets span 6% to 20%. This is an assumption you are making, not a rate the tool knows — nothing about it is fetched or guaranteed.
3. Set the tenureYears or Months, with presets from 1Y to 20Y. Because compounding is exponential, tenure has more effect on the final figure than the contribution does.
4. Read invested versus returnsThe result splits the future value into what you put in and what the projected return added. In short tenures your own capital dominates; in long ones the gain does.
5. Add a step-up if your contribution will growThe step-up section increases the contribution once a year, either by a percentage or by a fixed amount. Most people's incomes rise, and modelling that changes the projection substantially.
6. Check the inflation-adjusted figureThe inflation section deflates the future value into today's money. A large nominal number and a modest real number are the same projection described two ways, and the real one is the one to plan against.
7. Use goal mode to work backwardsEnter a target amount and a tenure and the tool solves for the contribution needed. This is the same annuity formula rearranged.

What the results mean

Future value

The projected portfolio at the end of the tenure, assuming your contribution and your return assumption both hold for the whole period. It is a projection, not a forecast and not a promise.

Total invested versus estimated returns

Total invested is simply your contribution multiplied by the number of periods. Everything above that is the projected compounding. Watching the ratio flip as tenure grows is the clearest illustration of why time matters more than timing.

Why the tool compounds at your chosen frequency

A monthly SIP compounds twelve times a year at one twelfth of the annual rate; a yearly one compounds once. Same annual percentage, different results — which is why the frequency selector changes the number.

Step-up effect

An annual top-up compounds too, so a 10% yearly increase does far more than add 10% to the total. The step-up section shows the two projections side by side.

Inflation-adjusted value

The real value divides the future value by (1 + inflation)^years. At 6% inflation, money halves in purchasing power in roughly twelve years, so a twenty-year projection looks very different in real terms.

SIP versus lump sum

A lump sum invested at the start compounds for the entire tenure, so on identical assumptions it beats a drip-fed SIP of the same total. The comparison exists to make that trade-off explicit rather than to recommend either.

The formula

These are the expressions the calculator evaluates, written out so you can reproduce any result by hand.

Worked example

Limits worth knowing

A browser can only report what the platform gives it. These are the honest boundaries of this page, so a result is never read as more than it is.

• The expected return is your assumption and the result inherits all of its uncertainty. Market returns are not fixed, not smooth and not guaranteed — the tool applies a constant rate because that is the only thing a formula can do, and real portfolios do not behave that way. The page's own “Does SIP guarantee returns?” FAQ says the same.
• It uses no live data. There are no NAVs, no fund performance figures, no benchmark returns and no market feed of any kind; every number comes from your inputs.
• It does not model costs or taxes. Expense ratios, exit loads, stamp duty, capital gains tax and dividend taxation all reduce a real outcome below this projection.
• Real SIPs buy units at whatever the NAV is on each instalment date, so the actual outcome depends on the path the market took, not just on an average return. Two funds averaging the same return can end at different values.
• This is a mathematical projection, not investment advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to invest in anything, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.

Tips

• Run the projection at two or three return assumptions rather than one. A 10% and a 14% projection bracket the plausible range far better than a single 12% figure pretending to be precise.
• Always look at the inflation-adjusted number before setting a goal. Planning against a nominal figure quietly overstates what the money will buy.
• Model a step-up even a modest one. A 5–10% annual increase tracks how incomes usually move and changes the projection more than most people expect.

Troubleshooting

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