SIP Calculator

What this calculates

Enter a monthly investment, the return you expect each year and how many years you will keep investing, and this shows what the SIP could be worth at the end - the maturity value - and how much of it is your own money against estimated returns. An optional annual step-up raises the monthly amount every year. A growth curve and a year-by-year table show how the value builds up.

It assumes the same return every month. Market-linked returns vary, so the result is an estimate, not a promise.

The formula

Each instalment is paid at the start of its month and grows until the end of the period, at a monthly rate of a twelfth of the expected annual return.

P is the monthly amount and n the number of months. The final × (1 + i) is there because each instalment is paid at the start of its month and earns that month's return as well. At a return of zero nothing grows, and the maturity value is simply P × n.

With a step-up, the monthly amount rises by the step-up percentage at the start of every year after the first, so the formula above no longer applies; the value is worked out month by month instead, each instalment growing from the month it is paid.

Worked example

With a 10% annual step-up, the same SIP reaches about ₹11,790 a month in year ten, and grows to about ₹16,87,163, of which ₹9,56,245 is invested.

When to use it, and the mistakes to avoid

Use it to see roughly where a monthly investment could get to, to compare periods and expected returns side by side, and to see what raising the amount each year adds.

The mistakes that cost the most:

• Treating the expected return as guaranteed. The result assumes the same return every month. Market-linked returns rise and fall, so the real figure can land above or below the estimate.
• Growing the whole total for the whole period. ₹6,00,000 grown at 12% for ten years is about ₹18,63,509, but a ₹5,000 SIP puts that money in gradually, so it reaches about ₹11,61,695. Each instalment only grows from the month it is paid.
• Reading the total return as a yearly one. ₹5,61,695 on ₹6,00,000 invested is about 93.6% over ten years — not per year. The 12% is the yearly rate the calculation assumes.
• Stopping early. Time matters more than it looks: ₹5,000 a month at 12% reaches about ₹11,61,695 after ten years but about ₹49,95,740 after twenty — twice the money invested, more than four times the value.
• Forgetting tax, fees and inflation. The figure is gross: before tax on the gains, fund expenses and exit loads, and in today's money. What you keep, and what it buys, will be less.

FAQ