What is a SIP Calculator?
A Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) lets you invest a fixed amount in a mutual fund every month instead of putting in one lump sum. Each instalment buys units at that month's price, so over time your average purchase cost smooths out across market ups and downs — the effect most people mean when they say "rupee cost averaging."
This calculator projects the maturity value of a SIP given a monthly amount, an expected annual return, and how many years you plan to stay invested. It assumes each month's instalment is invested at the start of the month, which is how most fund houses and calculators treat SIP dates.
How the maturity value is calculated
P is your monthly investment, r is the monthly rate (annual return ÷ 12), and n is the total number of instalments. The extra (1+r) accounts for each instalment being invested at the start of the month rather than the end.
Move the sliders or type directly into the fields — the maturity value, total invested amount and estimated gains update instantly. The expected return is an assumption you control; equity mutual funds don’t guarantee any fixed rate, so it helps to test a couple of scenarios (say 10%, 12% and 14%) rather than anchoring on one number.
Worked example
Take a ₹10,000 monthly SIP running for 10 years. Across 120 instalments, you invest ₹12,00,000 in total — that part is arithmetic, not a projection, and doesn’t change with the return you assume. What varies is the final value: at an assumed 10% annual return it grows to roughly ₹20,65,520; at 12%, roughly ₹23,23,391; at 14%, roughly ₹26,20,914.
That gap — about ₹5.5 lakh in outcome between the 10% and 14% scenarios on the exact same instalment — is the reason it’s worth testing a range of assumptions in the calculator above rather than anchoring on whichever number a fund’s marketing highlights.
SIP vs. lumpsum vs. RD, on the same amount
It helps to place a SIP against the other two common ways of building the same corpus. Investing the full ₹12,00,000 as a one-time lumpsum in a mutual fund, at the same assumed 12% for 10 years, grows to roughly ₹37,27,018 — well ahead of the SIP’s ₹23,23,391, simply because the entire amount starts compounding from day one instead of arriving gradually. A recurring deposit building the same ₹12,00,000 in deposits at a fixed 6.7% (a typical bank RD rate) would reach about ₹17,18,015 — lower, but guaranteed, since it isn’t market-linked.
None of this makes one option better in isolation. Lumpsum assumes you already have ₹12 lakh sitting idle and are comfortable with full market exposure from day one; SIP suits money you earn progressively rather than hold today; RD suits money where a guaranteed, if lower, return matters more than growth potential. Run your own numbers on the Lumpsum Calculator and RD Calculator.
A few things that trip people up
Treating the return rate you enter as a forecast rather than an assumption is the most common one — no calculator, including this one, can tell you what a fund will actually return, only what a given assumption implies over your chosen period.
Pausing or stopping a SIP during a market downturn is a common instinct that works against the strategy’s own logic: falling prices mean your fixed instalment buys more units, not fewer, which is the rupee-cost-averaging effect a SIP is built to capture in the first place.
And keeping the monthly instalment flat for a decade or more ignores that income — and 80C headroom — typically grows too. The Step-Up SIP Calculator models what raising your instalment by a fixed percentage every year does to the same projection.
Frequently asked questions
Is the SIP return guaranteed?
No. Mutual fund returns are market-linked and not guaranteed. The rate you enter here is an assumption for planning purposes, based on whatever return expectation you consider reasonable for the fund category.
Does this account for expense ratio or exit load?
No — the return rate you enter should already be your post-expense-ratio expectation. Exit load only applies if you redeem early, which this maturity-value projection doesn’t model.
What’s the difference between this and the Lumpsum calculator?
This tool assumes equal monthly instalments. If you’re investing one amount today instead, use the Lumpsum Calculator, which compounds a single principal instead of a stream of instalments.
Why does the calculator assume investment at the start of the month?
It matches how most AMC and industry SIP calculators compute maturity value. If your SIP date is later in the month, actual returns will be marginally lower than shown here.
Is 12% a realistic return to assume for a SIP?
It depends entirely on the fund category and period — equity funds have delivered both well above and well below 12% across different multi-year stretches historically. Rather than trusting one figure, run this calculator at a conservative (9-10%), moderate (12%) and optimistic (14-15%) rate to see the realistic range of outcomes for your own instalment and tenure.
How much SIP do I need to reach ₹1 crore?
At an assumed 12% return, roughly ₹43,000/month for 10 years, ₹19,800/month for 15 years, ₹10,000/month for 20 years, or about ₹5,300/month for 25 years — the effect of starting earlier is large precisely because more of the corpus comes from compounding rather than fresh instalments the longer the period runs.
Can I stop or pause a SIP anytime?
Yes — an open-ended SIP (the common type) can usually be paused or cancelled anytime through your fund house or platform with no penalty, though you’ll want to check whether your specific plan has a minimum-instalment commitment.
Is money invested through a SIP tax-free?
No — SIP investments in equity mutual funds are subject to capital gains tax on redemption (short or long-term, depending on holding period), and only ELSS (tax-saving) fund SIPs qualify for a Section 80C deduction on the amount invested, up to the overall ₹1.5 lakh 80C limit.