Tools To India

SIP Calculator

Enter your monthly investment, an expected annual return and a time period to see what a systematic investment plan could grow to.

Last updated

₹10K

An assumption you choose. Long-run Indian equity returns have varied widely.

Raise the instalment each year, usually in line with your salary.

The result updates as you type. Nothing you enter is saved, sent to a server or shared.

Estimated value at the end

₹50,45,760

From ₹18,00,000 invested over 15 years

Invested versus returns

  • Invested: ₹18,00,000
  • Estimated returns: ₹32,45,760
Total invested
₹18,00,000
Estimated returns
₹32,45,760
Estimated final value
₹50,45,760
Absolute return on money invested
180.32%
  • Market-linked returns are not guaranteed. The rate you enter is an assumption, not a prediction, and actual returns will be higher in some years and negative in others.
  • Assumes each instalment is invested at the start of the month and that no instalment is missed.

Year-by-year build-up

Year-by-year build-up
YearInvested this yearTotal investedEstimated value
1₹1,20,000₹1,20,000₹1,28,093
2₹1,20,000₹2,40,000₹2,72,432
3₹1,20,000₹3,60,000₹4,35,076
4₹1,20,000₹4,80,000₹6,18,348
5₹1,20,000₹6,00,000₹8,24,864
6₹1,20,000₹7,20,000₹10,57,570
7₹1,20,000₹8,40,000₹13,19,790
8₹1,20,000₹9,60,000₹16,15,266
9₹1,20,000₹10,80,000₹19,48,215
10₹1,20,000₹12,00,000₹23,23,391
11₹1,20,000₹13,20,000₹27,46,148
12₹1,20,000₹14,40,000₹32,22,522
13₹1,20,000₹15,60,000₹37,59,311
14₹1,20,000₹16,80,000₹43,64,180
15₹1,20,000₹18,00,000₹50,45,760

How this calculator works

A systematic investment plan is simply a standing instruction to invest a fixed amount at a fixed interval, usually monthly. Every instalment buys units at whatever the price is that day, so you accumulate more units when markets fall and fewer when they rise. That is rupee-cost averaging, and it removes the need to decide when to invest.

The maths treats each instalment as a separate investment compounding for however many months remain. An instalment paid in month one compounds for the entire period; one paid in the final month compounds for a single month. Adding them all up gives the closed-form SIP formula used here.

This is why the last few years of a long SIP produce such large numbers. The corpus is at its biggest, so the same percentage return generates far more rupees. In a twenty-year SIP, the final five years typically add more value than the first fifteen.

The step-up option matters more than most people expect. Raising the instalment by 10% each year, roughly in line with a salary increase, can produce a substantially larger corpus than a flat SIP, because the increases arrive early enough to compound.

The formula

Future value of a SIP

FV = P × ((1 + i)ⁿ − 1) ÷ i × (1 + i)

P
Monthly instalment
i
Monthly return = annual return ÷ 12 ÷ 100
n
Total number of instalments

The final × (1 + i) reflects instalments being invested at the start of each month. This is the convention every mainstream Indian SIP calculator uses.

With an annual step-up

No closed form — the instalment changes every twelve months, so the calculation runs month by month.

Worked example: ₹10,000 a month at 12% for 15 years

Deepa starts a ₹10,000 monthly SIP and assumes a 12% annual return over 15 years.

Step-by-step calculation for the worked example
Monthly instalment₹10,000
Monthly return (12 ÷ 12 ÷ 100)0.01
Number of instalments180
Total invested₹18,00,000
Estimated final value₹50,45,760
Estimated returns₹32,45,760
Returns as a share of the amount invested180%

Nearly two-thirds of the final value is return rather than contribution. Adding a 10% annual step-up would raise total investment to about ₹38 lakh and the estimated value to roughly ₹92 lakh — the increases matter because they arrive early enough to compound.

Things worth knowing

  • Market-linked returns are not guaranteed. The rate you enter is an assumption, not a prediction, and actual returns will be higher in some years and negative in others.
  • The expected return you enter is the single biggest driver of the result. Changing it from 12% to 10% reduces a fifteen-year corpus by roughly a fifth. Treat any projection as a range, not a figure.
  • Returns shown here are before tax. Equity mutual funds held beyond the long-term threshold are taxed at a concessional rate above an annual exemption; debt funds are taxed differently again. Check the current rules for the specific fund type.
  • Expense ratios reduce your actual return. The figure a fund reports is usually already net of expenses, but a high-cost fund can quietly cost several percent of the final corpus over a long period.
  • Missing instalments is the most common reason real SIPs underperform projections. Set the debit date shortly after your salary credit date.
  • A SIP is a way of investing, not an asset class. The return depends entirely on what you invest in — an equity fund, a debt fund and a gold fund will behave very differently.

Frequently asked questions

What return should I assume?
There is no correct answer, which is precisely why the field is an input rather than a fixed value. Many people model Indian equity funds somewhere in the 10–12% range over long periods and debt funds considerably lower, but past returns do not determine future ones. Run the calculation at two or three different rates and plan around the lower one.
Is a SIP better than investing a lump sum?
They answer different problems. A lump sum invested at the start of a rising period will beat a SIP, because more money is invested for longer. A SIP protects you from investing everything just before a fall, and it matches how salaried people actually accumulate money. If you already have a large sum and a long horizon, staggering it over several months is a common middle path.
What is a step-up SIP?
An instruction to increase the instalment automatically each year, usually by a fixed percentage. It matches investing to a rising income, and because the increases start early they compound for many years. The effect over fifteen or twenty years is substantial.
Can I stop or pause a SIP?
Yes. A SIP is a standing instruction, not a lock-in, and you can pause or cancel it at any time. The units you already own stay invested. The exception is an equity-linked savings scheme, where each instalment is locked for three years from its own investment date.
How are SIP returns taxed?
Each instalment is treated as a separate purchase with its own holding period, so redeeming after several years means some units qualify as long-term and others may not. Equity and debt funds follow different rules and rates. Check the current provisions for your fund type before redeeming a large amount.

Sources

Every figure on this page is traceable to the official source below. If a source has changed since the date shown, please tell us and we will correct it.