Calculator
What the SIP Calculator does
SIP Calculator: calculates Total Invested, Est. Returns and Total Value from Monthly Investment, Expected Return and Duration. Formula: FV = P x ((1 + r)^n - 1) / r x (1 + r). Example: monthly investment 5000 ₹, expected return 12 % p.a. and duration 10 years gives total invested ₹6,00,000.00.
Give the SIP Calculator your Monthly Investment, Expected Return, Duration and Annual Step-up and it works out Total Invested, Est. Returns and Total Value. Everything recomputes live, which makes it easy to test a few scenarios in a row.
A quote sounds reasonable until you total the interest over the full term. The SIP Calculator exists to take that particular chore off your hands.
Your data stays on your machine. Once the page has loaded you could disconnect entirely and it would still work.
The field table, the method and a worked example are documented after the tool for anyone who wants to check the working.
What do the SIP Calculator fields mean?
The SIP Calculator uses 5 inputs. It opens with a complete example loaded, which is usually the quickest way to understand what a field means.
| Field | What to enter | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Investment | measured in ₹; accepts 500 to 500000 | 5000 |
| Expected Return | measured in % p.a.; accepts 1 to 30 | 12 |
| Duration | measured in years; accepts 1 to 40 | 10 |
| Annual Step-up | measured in %; accepts 0 to 50 | 0 |
| Inflation (for real value) | measured in %; accepts 0 to 20 | 6 |
How does the SIP Calculator work?
P is the monthly instalment, r the monthly return rate and n the number of instalments. The trailing (1 + r) accounts for investing at the start of each month.
Inputs are validated before anything is computed, so a bad entry is reported rather than quietly producing a wrong answer.
Worked example
These are the values the SIP Calculator loads by default, and the result it produces from them. The numbers below come straight from the default inputs, so you can verify them against the live tool.
| Monthly Investment | 5000 ₹ |
|---|---|
| Expected Return | 12 % p.a. |
| Duration | 10 years |
| Annual Step-up | 0 % |
| Inflation (for real value) | 6 % |
| Total Invested | ₹6,00,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Est. Returns | ₹5,61,695.38 |
| Total Value | ₹11,61,695.38 |
| Inflation-adjusted Value | ₹6,48,684.63 |
What a SIP does and does not promise
A systematic investment plan is a schedule, not an asset class. It buys a fixed rupee amount at fixed intervals, which means more units when prices are low and fewer when they are high. What it removes is the need to time entry; what it cannot remove is market risk.
- The projected return is an assumption, not a forecast
- Any SIP projection compounds a rate you chose. Equity returns are not smooth, and a real portfolio can sit below its invested amount for extended periods. Treat the output as a what-if, never as an expectation.
- Rupee-cost averaging is a discipline, not an edge
- Investing on a schedule beats trying to pick the bottom for most people because it removes the decision, not because averaging is mathematically superior to a lump sum. In a steadily rising market, a lump sum invested earlier usually wins.
- Expense ratio compounds against you
- A fund charging 1.5% a year rather than 0.5% keeps roughly a percentage point of your return every year, compounded over the whole horizon. Over decades this is one of the largest controllable factors in the final figure.
- Step-up changes the outcome more than rate assumptions
- Increasing the monthly contribution each year in line with income growth typically moves the final corpus more than a plausible difference in return assumptions does, and it is entirely within your control.
- Tax depends on the fund and holding period (India)
- Equity and debt funds are taxed differently, and gains are classified by holding period. The corpus shown here is pre-tax. Confirm current rates before planning around a net figure.
Rules, limits and thresholds for tax-advantaged accounts change from year to year. Confirm the current figures before acting, and treat any projected return as an assumption rather than a forecast.
Sources: SEBI investor education
Read next: Compound vs Simple Interest: Where the Difference Comes From
How to use it
- Set Monthly Investment in ₹ (500 to 500000).
- Put Expected Return in % p.a. (1 to 30).
- Key in Duration in years (1 to 40).
- Fill in Annual Step-up in % (0 to 50).
- Type Inflation (for real value) in % (0 to 20).
- Skip the submit button; there is not one. Editing is enough.
- Check Total Invested, Est. Returns, Total Value and Inflation-adjusted Value on the right.
- To keep the result, either copy the link or print the page. Both preserve what is on screen.
What this tool does not do
- Fees, taxes and eligibility rules vary by product and are not included unless there is a field for them.
- Lender rounding rules differ, so the final figure on your statement may differ by a small amount.
- Precision beyond what the inputs justify is not meaningful, however many digits appear.
- The tool trusts your numbers completely, so a mis-keyed digit propagates straight through.
Frequently asked questions
Enter Monthly Investment in ₹, Expected Return in % p.a., Duration in years, Annual Step-up in % and Inflation (for real value) in %. Every input names its unit, and every output does too, which removes the usual source of error.
Monthly Investment accepts 500 to 500000 ₹. Go outside it and you get an error against that specific field instead of a misleading number.
With the values loaded when the page opens, total invested comes out as ₹6,00,000.00. Try changing one value. The answer refreshes without a page reload.
No. Your browser is doing the computing, so we could not see the values even if we wanted to.
It is free with no conditions: no sign-up, and no limit on how often you use it.
Accurate arithmetic, indicative answer. It is at its most useful when you run it two or three times to see which input the result is genuinely sensitive to.