How the calculation works
The calculator goes through your plan one month at a time. In a month with an instalment, the instalment goes in first, then the whole value grows by one month of the expected return, which is the yearly rate divided by 12. If you choose the end of the month, the growth comes first and the instalment after, so each instalment grows for one month less. A lump sum goes in at the very start and grows for the whole plan. With a yearly raise, every instalment in the second year is that much bigger than in the first, and so on.
“How much should I invest?” finds the exact first instalment that reaches your goal by the end of the last month and rounds it up to a whole amount. “How long to reach my goal?” runs the plan until the month the value first reaches the goal, up to 100 years. Real returns go up and down from month to month; the calculator assumes the same return every month, which is why it also shows what happens if returns are 2% lower or higher.
A worked example
Say you invest ₹10,000 at the start of every month for 10 years, and the fund returns 12% a year. Each month the money grows by 12% ÷ 12 = 1%.
- Month 1: ₹10,000 goes in and grows by ₹100, to ₹10,100.
- Month 2: another ₹10,000 makes ₹20,100, which grows by ₹201, to ₹20,301.
- The same happens every month after that. The first instalment grows for all 120 months; the last one for just one.
| After | Put in | Value | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | ₹1,20,000 | ₹1,28,093 | ₹8,093 |
| 5 years | ₹6,00,000 | ₹8,24,864 | ₹2,24,864 |
| 10 years | ₹12,00,000 | ₹23,23,391 | ₹11,23,391 |
After 10 years you've put in ₹12,00,000 and it's worth ₹23,23,391: ₹11,23,391 of it is growth, almost as much as you put in. Most of that growth comes in the last few years, because by then there's far more money growing. Enter these numbers in the calculator above and you'll get the same result.
Why a step-up SIP makes such a big difference
A 10% yearly raise means your instalment in year five is about 46% higher than in year one, not because of returns but because you’re investing more. That extra money still has years to grow, so a step-up adds two things: more money going in, and the growth on it for however many years remain. If your pay rises over time, a step-up often reaches a goal years sooner than a flat SIP, without asking more of your budget today. The notes under the answer show what a 10% raise would do to your own plan.
What your SIP is worth after rising prices
₹50 lakh sounds like a lot, but if it takes 20 years to get there and prices rise 6% a year, it buys roughly what ₹15.6 lakh buys today. The note on rising prices divides your final value by how much prices will have risen over the plan, so you can compare it with what things cost now. The box in that note can be changed to any rate. For a goal, it works the other way round: it shows how big the goal needs to be to buy then what it buys today, and can make that your goal. The chart can show the whole plan in today’s money too.
How SIP gains are taxed in India
These are the rules for FY 2026–27, for units sold from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, last checked on 6 October 2026. Tax rules can change in each year’s Union Budget, so for your own return check the Income Tax Department or ask a tax adviser. The amounts in this calculator are before tax.
A SIP isn’t taxed while you keep investing. Tax is due when you sell (redeem) units, and only on the gain: the part above what you paid for those units. Each instalment buys units on its own date, so each one has its own holding period. Units count as sold oldest first, so if you sell everything after three years of a SIP, the units from the last 12 months are still short-term while the older ones are long-term.
| Fund | Held for | Tax on the gain |
|---|---|---|
| Equity funds (65% or more in Indian shares) | 12 months or less | 20% |
| Equity funds | More than 12 months | 12.5%, but the first ₹1.25 lakh of these gains each year is tax-free |
| Debt funds (more than 65% in debt), units bought from 1 April 2023 | Any length of time | Added to your income and taxed at your slab rate |
| Debt fund units bought before 1 April 2023 | More than 24 months | 12.5% |
| Debt fund units bought before 1 April 2023 | 24 months or less | Your slab rate |
| Other funds: hybrid funds with 35–65% in shares, gold, international, funds of funds | More than 24 months (12 months if listed on a stock exchange) | 12.5% |
| Other funds | Shorter than that | Your slab rate |
A 4% health and education cess, and any surcharge, is added to these rates. The ₹1.25 lakh tax-free amount covers all your long-term equity gains in the year together, not each fund separately. In a tax-saving ELSS fund, each instalment is locked in for three years from its own date, so the last instalment of a SIP can only be sold three years after it was made.
For residents, the fund house doesn’t take tax out when you sell: you pay it when you file your return, or through advance tax. For NRIs, the fund house deducts tax from the amount it pays out.
Reading the results
The coloured box at the top gives the answer in one sentence, with a bar showing how much of the final value is money you put in and how much is growth. The notes under it change with your plan: what the money buys after rising prices, what waiting a year would cost, what a yearly raise would do, what 2% lower or higher returns would mean, and when the growth passes everything you’ve put in.
The chart shows the value month by month above the money you’ve put in, so the gap between the two lines is the growth. The shaded band is the same plan with returns 2% lower and 2% higher. In the year-by-year table, each row shows what you put in that year, the total so far, the growth so far and the value at the end of the year. Years count from your first instalment by default; you can switch to calendar years (January to December) or, in rupees, India’s financial years (April to March), where the first and last rows can be shorter than 12 months. The CSV download has every month, for a spreadsheet.