SIP Calculator
Where Discipline Becomes Wealth.
Calculate SIP returns, step-up investments, inflation-adjusted wealth, and see how your monthly investments can grow into long-term financial freedom.
What your maturity amount is really worth once 6% annual inflation is accounted for. Real annual return: —.
Illustrative only. Assumes constant annual returns compounded monthly. Actual mutual fund returns are market-linked, not guaranteed, and will vary.
See your SIP from every angle
A single maturity number rarely tells the whole story. These three views use the same amount, return and duration from the calculator above to show how a Fixed Deposit compares, what inflation actually costs you, and what a step-up truly adds.
SIP vs Fixed Deposit
Same monthly outlay, compared against a recurring deposit at a fixed rate.
SIP vs Inflation
What your invested capital would need to become just to keep pace with rising prices.
Step-Up SIP Analysis
The same starting SIP, with and without an annual step-up.
What Will Your SIP Become?
A snapshot of common monthly SIP amounts across common investment horizons, assuming a steady 12% annual return with no step-up. Use the calculator above to model your own rate, duration and step-up.
| Monthly SIP | 10 Years | 15 Years | 20 Years | 25 Years | 30 Years |
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What is SIP?
A Systematic Investment Plan, or SIP, is a way of investing a fixed sum in a mutual fund at regular intervals — usually every month — instead of committing one large amount at once. It is one of the most searched ways to start investing in India precisely because it removes the biggest barrier to entry: needing a large sum of money before you can begin.
Rather than trying to time the market, a SIP quietly buys fund units on the same date every cycle, whatever the market happens to be doing that day. Over enough cycles, this evens out the price paid per unit — you end up buying more units when prices are low and fewer when prices are high, a mechanism known as rupee-cost averaging.
How SIP Works
When you start a SIP, you authorise a fixed amount to be debited from your bank account on a chosen date each month and used to purchase units of a mutual fund scheme at that day's Net Asset Value, or NAV. The number of units you receive varies with the NAV, but the amount invested stays constant unless you choose a step-up.
Each instalment is a separate purchase with its own start date, so the total corpus at maturity is really the sum of many smaller investments, each compounding for a different length of time. The earliest instalments have the most time to grow, while the most recent ones have contributed little beyond their principal — which is part of why a SIP's growth curve accelerates in its later years rather than climbing in a straight line.
SIP Calculator Formula Explained
This SIP return calculator, like any accurate mutual fund SIP calculator, is built on a single compound-interest formula applied month by month:
- M — the maturity value received at the end of the tenure
- P — the fixed amount invested every month
- i — the periodic (monthly) rate of return
- n — the total number of monthly investments made
A common mistake is dividing the annual return by twelve to get the monthly rate — for a 12% annual return that would suggest 1% a month, which actually compounds to more than 12% annually. The correct monthly rate is (1 + annual return)1/12 − 1, which for a 12% annual return works out to roughly 0.95% a month. This online SIP calculator uses the correct compounding method throughout, including when an annual step-up is applied.
Benefits of SIP Investing
- Rupee-cost averaging smooths out the price paid for fund units across market cycles, reducing the impact of any single bad entry point.
- Enforced discipline turns investing into a monthly habit rather than a decision you have to remember to make.
- Low starting threshold — many funds accept SIPs from as little as ₹500 a month, making it accessible early in a career.
- Flexibility to pause, increase, decrease, or stop contributions as circumstances change, without breaking a contract.
- Goal alignment — SIP amounts and tenures can be reverse-engineered from a specific target, like a down payment or retirement corpus.
Power of Compounding
Compounding is the process by which returns earned in one period start earning further returns in the next. Because every SIP instalment begins compounding from its own investment date, a rupee invested in year one has far longer to grow than a rupee invested in year fourteen.
This is why starting early tends to matter more than the exact return rate assumed. Two investors saving for thirty years, one starting at twenty-five and one at thirty-five, don't end up ten years' worth of contributions apart — because of compounding, that ten-year head start typically accounts for a disproportionate share of the final corpus.
Can SIP Beat Inflation?
A maturity value is a number in future rupees, and future rupees buy less than today's rupees do. Real return strips inflation out of the nominal return to show growth in today's purchasing power, using the approximate relationship:
At 6% average inflation, a 12% nominal return leaves a real return of only around 5.7% a year — the difference between a corpus that looks large on paper and one that actually expands what you can afford to buy with it. Equity-oriented SIPs have historically cleared long-run inflation over sufficiently long horizons, though this depends on the fund, the period measured, and market conditions, and is never guaranteed for any specific stretch of time.
SIP vs Fixed Deposit
A Fixed Deposit offers a locked-in, predictable rate of return and comes with capital protection, which makes it well suited to short-term goals and money you cannot afford to see fall in value. A SIP into an equity mutual fund carries market risk — its value can fall as well as rise — but has historically offered materially higher long-term returns to compensate for that risk.
The honest comparison isn't which is "better," but which matches the goal: FDs for capital you'll need soon or can't risk, SIPs for long-term wealth creation where you can tolerate short-term volatility in exchange for higher expected growth.
SIP vs Lump Sum Investment
A lump sum invested right before a sustained market rally can outperform a SIP of the same total amount, simply because the entire sum starts compounding immediately. But that outcome depends entirely on the timing being favourable, which is exactly the variable no investor can reliably control in advance.
A SIP spreads that timing risk across many purchase dates instead of concentrating it on one. For most people investing out of regular income rather than a windfall, that difference makes SIP the more practical and repeatable approach — the comparison matters far less than simply starting and staying consistent.
Common SIP Mistakes
- Stopping during a downturn. Pausing a SIP when markets fall locks in exactly the low-price units the strategy is designed to accumulate.
- Chasing last year's best-performing fund rather than sticking with a consistent, well-understood strategy over years.
- Ignoring inflation when setting a goal amount, which can leave a target corpus short of what it actually needs to buy.
- Never increasing the SIP amount as income grows, leaving significant step-up potential unused.
- Treating a calculator estimate as a guarantee instead of one scenario among several worth testing.
How to Use This SIP Calculator
Start with the monthly amount you can realistically commit to every month without strain, and a return assumption on the conservative side of typical long-term averages. Adjust the duration to match your actual goal horizon, then turn on step-up if you expect your income — and therefore your contribution capacity — to grow over time.
Finally, keep the inflation toggle on. A maturity value alone can be misleading; the inflation-adjusted figure and effective growth rate give a far more honest picture of what the plan is actually likely to achieve in today's terms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a SIP calculator?
A SIP calculator is an online tool that estimates the maturity value of a Systematic Investment Plan based on your monthly investment amount, expected annual return, and investment duration. This calculator also models annual step-up increases and inflation, showing total invested, wealth gained, and inflation-adjusted real wealth.
How is SIP maturity value calculated?
SIP maturity value is calculated using M = P × (((1 + i)ⁿ − 1) / i) × (1 + i), where P is the monthly investment, i is the monthly rate of return, and n is the total number of monthly instalments. Each contribution compounds for the number of months it remains invested.
What is a good expected return rate for equity SIPs?
Diversified equity mutual funds in India have historically averaged long-term annual returns broadly between 10% and 14%, though this varies by fund, category and time period. It's sensible to test a conservative and an optimistic assumption rather than relying on one figure.
What does a step-up SIP mean?
A step-up SIP automatically increases your monthly contribution by a fixed percentage every year, usually in line with expected income growth. Because larger later contributions still compound for the years remaining, step-up SIPs can meaningfully raise the final maturity value compared with a flat SIP.
Can a SIP beat inflation?
A SIP invested in equity mutual funds has historically outpaced inflation over long horizons, since long-term equity returns have generally exceeded average inflation rates. This is not guaranteed for any specific period, which is why checking the inflation-adjusted real return is important before assuming a plan is on track.
Is SIP better than a Fixed Deposit?
SIPs in equity mutual funds have the potential for higher long-term returns than fixed deposits, but they carry market risk that FDs do not. FDs suit capital protection and short-term goals, while SIPs suit long-term wealth creation where an investor can tolerate short-term volatility.
Is SIP better than a lump sum investment?
Neither is universally better. A lump sum invested at the start of a strong bull run can outperform a SIP, but a SIP reduces timing risk by spreading purchases across market cycles. For most people investing from regular income rather than a windfall, SIP is the more practical and disciplined approach.
Is SIP investing risk-free?
No. A SIP is a method of investing regularly into market-linked instruments, and it carries the same underlying market risk as the fund it invests in. It reduces timing risk and builds discipline, but it does not guarantee a fixed or positive return.