SIP Calculator
A SIP (systematic investment plan) means investing a fixed amount every month. Enter your monthly investment, an expected annual return and the investment period to estimate your total invested amount, the estimated returns and the projected final value — estimates based on the return you assume, not guaranteed results.
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- No sign-up required
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Your estimate
Enter your investment details and select Calculate returns to see the projection.
Estimated total value
–
- Total invested amount –
- Estimated returns –
- Number of instalments –
- Invested amount –
- Estimated returns –
A projection, not a forecast. Amounts are shown in the currency you choose, rounded to two decimal places. No exchange rate is applied.
Estimates only — returns are not guaranteed. This projection assumes a single, steady rate of return every month for the whole period. Real markets do not behave that way: returns vary year to year and can be negative, and the value of an investment can fall as well as rise. The figures also exclude fund charges, transaction costs, exit loads and taxes, all of which reduce what you actually receive. Past performance does not indicate future results. This is general information, not financial advice — consider speaking to a qualified adviser about your own circumstances.
Get Your Detailed SIP Report
See a year-by-year and monthly projection, how much of the estimated value comes from your contributions vs growth, and how different return assumptions and periods compare, in one downloadable report.
- Year-by-year and monthly projection
- Contributions vs estimated growth
- Return scenarios and time horizons
- Key observations
- Downloadable PDF
One-time report price: ₹199. You see a free preview before paying. The calculator above stays free to use. Figures are estimates, not guaranteed returns.
What is SIP?
SIP stands for Systematic Investment Plan. Instead of investing one lump sum, you commit a fixed amount at a regular interval — usually monthly — into a mutual fund or similar investment. Each instalment buys however many units that amount is worth on the day it is invested.
The appeal is mostly behavioural. A standing instruction removes the need to decide when to invest, which is the decision most people get wrong. It also produces a side effect known as rupee-cost or dollar-cost averaging: because your contribution is a fixed amount rather than a fixed number of units, you automatically buy more units when prices are low and fewer when prices are high. That smooths out your average purchase price over time.
What a SIP does not do is remove risk. If the market falls over your whole investment period, a SIP will lose money too. It changes when and how you buy, not what you own.
How SIP calculation works
Each instalment is invested at a different time, so each one compounds for a different number of months. The first contribution grows for the entire period; the last one has barely any time to grow at all. Summing that series gives the standard SIP future-value formula:
The trailing × (1 + i) term assumes each instalment is invested at the start of the month, which is how most SIP mandates are set up. Some calculators leave that term out because they assume end-of-month investing; that version gives a slightly lower figure for the same inputs. This page uses the start-of-month convention.
Amounts on this page are shown in Indian rupees (₹) with Indian digit grouping, so six hundred thousand appears as ₹6,00,000. Your total invested amount is simply P × n, and the estimated returns are the difference between the projected value and what you put in. If the expected return is 0%, the formula would divide by zero, so the calculator falls back to FV = P × n — you get back exactly what you contributed and nothing more.
Key terms
- Monthly investment — the fixed amount you put in each month.
- Expected annual return — the yearly growth rate you assume. It is applied as a steady monthly rate (annual rate ÷ 12); real returns go up and down and can be negative.
- Investment duration — how many years you keep investing, which sets the number of monthly instalments.
- Invested amount — the total of your own contributions: monthly investment × number of months. This part involves no assumption.
- Estimated returns — the projected growth on top of what you invested: final value − invested amount.
- Final value — the projected worth of the investment at the end of the period (also called maturity value): invested amount + estimated returns.
Example SIP calculation
Take ₹5,000 invested every month at an assumed 12% a year for 10 years — the values this page loads with. The monthly rate is 0.12 ÷ 12 = 0.01, and the number of instalments is 10 × 12 = 120.
Raising 1.01 to the power of 120 gives 3.300387. Putting that into the formula:
Which breaks down as:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Monthly investment | ₹5,000.00 |
| Total invested (120 instalments) | ₹6,00,000.00 |
| Estimated returns | ₹5,61,695.38 |
| Estimated total value | ₹11,61,695.38 |
For comparison, at 0% the same plan would be worth exactly ₹6,00,000 — your contributions and nothing else.
Factors that affect SIP results
Four things drive the projection: how much you invest each month, the return you assume, how long you invest, and compounding — the way growth on earlier instalments earns growth of its own. The monthly amount works in direct proportion: ₹10,000 a month instead of ₹5,000 doubles everything, giving an estimated ₹23,23,390.76 after 10 years at 12%. The other three interact, as the tables below show. All figures are estimates at a constant assumed return; actual market returns vary from year to year and can differ substantially from any assumption.
Invested amount vs estimated returns
In the example above, your own contributions make up about 51.6% of the projected value and growth the remaining 48.4%. The donut chart in the results panel shows this split for whatever figures you enter.
The interesting part is how that ratio shifts with time. Keep the same ₹5,000 a month at the same assumed 12% and extend the period:
- Over 5 years your contributions dominate — growth is a modest share of the total, because most instalments simply have not been invested for long.
- Over 10 years the two halves are roughly level, as in the example above.
- Over 20 years or more growth overtakes contributions substantially, because the earliest instalments have had two decades to compound.
Investment period: compounding needs time
₹5,000 a month at an assumed 12% a year, over different periods:
| Period | Invested amount | Estimated returns | Estimated final value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 years | ₹3,00,000.00 | ₹1,12,431.83 | ₹4,12,431.83 |
| 10 years | ₹6,00,000.00 | ₹5,61,695.38 | ₹11,61,695.38 |
| 15 years | ₹9,00,000.00 | ₹16,22,880.00 | ₹25,22,880.00 |
| 20 years | ₹12,00,000.00 | ₹37,95,739.60 | ₹49,95,739.60 |
| 25 years | ₹15,00,000.00 | ₹79,88,175.46 | ₹94,88,175.46 |
Doubling the period from 10 to 20 years doubles what you put in, but the estimated final value grows about 4.3 times, because the earliest instalments keep compounding.
Assumed return: one input, a wide range
The same ₹5,000 a month for 15 years at different assumed returns:
| Assumed return | Invested amount | Estimated final value |
|---|---|---|
| 8% a year | ₹9,00,000.00 | ₹17,41,725.72 |
| 10% a year | ₹9,00,000.00 | ₹20,89,621.33 |
| 12% a year | ₹9,00,000.00 | ₹25,22,880.00 |
| 14% a year | ₹9,00,000.00 | ₹30,64,268.89 |
The contributions are identical in every row; only the assumption changes. These are illustrations of the arithmetic, not predictions of what any investment will earn.
This is why time in the market tends to matter more than the size of any single instalment. It is also why the assumed rate of return deserves scepticism: because it compounds, a small change in that one assumption moves the final figure a great deal. Running the calculation at a conservative rate as well as an optimistic one gives you a range rather than a single number — a far more honest way to read a projection like this.
Related calculators and guides
- Investing a lump sum as well, or paying fund fees? The Investment Return Calculator combines a starting amount with monthly contributions and shows what an annual fee costs over the period. Our guide to investment fees explains how flat and percentage fees compare.
- Investing a single amount once? The Compound Interest Calculator projects one deposit and shows how compounding frequency changes the result.
- Working towards a target? The Savings Goal Calculator works backwards from the amount you need to the monthly saving required.
- New to market-linked investing? Stock investing basics covers what owning shares means and why average returns are not what an investor actually earns.
Regular investing outside India
“SIP” is the name used in India for a standing instruction to invest a fixed amount in a mutual fund at regular intervals. The same idea goes by other names elsewhere: a regular or monthly investment plan, automatic contributions, or, when the point is buying at varying prices, dollar-cost averaging (US) and pound-cost averaging (UK). The pooled funds involved may be called mutual funds, unit trusts or OEICs, or be exchange-traded funds. The arithmetic is the same in each case, so the projection above applies in any currency.
Two things change from country to country and are outside this calculation. Tax: the projection is before tax, and tax-advantaged accounts — for example 401(k)s and IRAs in the US, ISAs and pensions in the UK, TFSAs and RRSPs in Canada, superannuation in Australia — can change the after-tax result considerably, under rules set by each country. Costs: fund and platform charges reduce the return you actually receive; the investment return calculator shows their effect in money.
SIP questions, answered
What is a SIP?
A SIP (systematic investment plan) is a way of investing a fixed amount at regular intervals — usually monthly — into a mutual fund or similar investment, instead of investing a lump sum. Each instalment buys units at that day's price.
How does a SIP calculator work?
It treats each monthly instalment as growing at the return you assume, compounded monthly, and adds them up: FV = P × [((1 + i)^n − 1) / i] × (1 + i), with i the monthly rate and n the number of months. It then shows your invested amount (P × n), the estimated returns and the projected final value. ₹5,000 a month at an assumed 12% for 10 years gives an estimated ₹11,61,695.38.
What inputs are required?
Three: the amount you plan to invest each month, the annual return you want to assume, and the number of years. Use 0% to see your contributions alone. The currency selector changes only how amounts are displayed.
What happens if I invest for a longer period?
Your contributions grow in proportion to the time, but the estimated returns grow faster, because earlier instalments compound for longer. At ₹5,000 a month and an assumed 12%, 10 years gives an estimated ₹11,61,695.38 from ₹6,00,000.00 invested, and 20 years an estimated ₹49,95,739.60 from ₹12,00,000.00. Actual returns over any period can be higher or lower than assumed.
What is the difference between invested amount and estimated returns?
The invested amount is the money you put in yourself — known for certain once you have paid it. The estimated returns are the projected growth on top, which depends entirely on the return assumption. The final value is the two added together.
Are these returns guaranteed?
No. The figure is a projection based on an assumed rate of return that you choose, applied evenly across every month. Actual investment returns vary from year to year and can be negative — the value of your investment can fall as well as rise. Treat the output as an illustration of how compounding works over time, not as a prediction of what you will receive.
What rate of return should I enter?
We deliberately do not recommend a figure, because the appropriate assumption depends on what you are invested in, over what period, and in which market. A sensible approach is to run the calculation two or three times across a range you consider plausible — a conservative rate and an optimistic one — and treat the spread between them as the realistic band of outcomes. Any single number will give you false precision.
Does the calculator account for fees and taxes?
No. The projection is gross of all costs. In practice, fund expense ratios, transaction charges, exit loads and any tax on your gains all reduce what you finally receive. If you want a rough net-of-fees view, subtract the fund's annual expense ratio from the expected return before you enter it — for example, entering 10.5% instead of 12% for a fund charging around 1.5% a year.
Why does your figure differ slightly from another SIP calculator?
Almost always because of the timing convention. This calculator assumes each instalment is invested at the start of the month, which adds a final × (1 + i) term to the formula. Calculators that assume end-of-month investing omit that term and return a marginally lower value for identical inputs. Neither is wrong; they answer slightly different questions. The formula used here is written out in full in the section above.
Can I enter a 0% expected return?
Yes, and it is a useful sanity check. At 0% the calculator returns exactly your total contributions with zero growth — ₹5,000 a month for 10 years gives ₹6,00,000. Comparing that baseline against your assumed rate shows plainly how much of the projected value is growth rather than your own money.
Which currency does the calculator use?
It opens in Indian rupees (₹) with Indian digit grouping, so six hundred thousand appears as ₹6,00,000. You can switch the display to US dollars, pounds sterling or euros with the currency selector.
The selector changes only how amounts are shown; no exchange rate is applied. The SIP formula itself has nothing to do with currency — it works identically for regular investments in any currency.
Is my data sent anywhere?
The calculation runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript on this page; the figures you type are not sent to our server, stored, or saved between visits. Only if you choose to open the detailed report are the monthly amount, expected return, period and display currency sent to our server, so that the report can be calculated there. If you buy a report, payment is handled by Razorpay and those figures are kept with the order so you can open the report again. No name, email address or phone number is asked for.