What is a XIRR Calculator?
Most real portfolios don't move in one clean lumpsum — money goes in and out on different dates, in different amounts: SIP instalments, a bonus top-up, a partial withdrawal. XIRR (Extended Internal Rate of Return) is the annualised return measure built for exactly this: it finds the single rate that makes the present value of every cash flow, on its actual date, net to zero.
Add each investment (as a negative outflow) and withdrawal or current value (as a positive inflow) with its date, and the calculator solves for XIRR numerically.
What XIRR solves for
There’s no algebraic way to isolate XIRR from this equation, so it’s solved numerically (this calculator uses Newton-Raphson with a bisection fallback) — the same underlying approach spreadsheet XIRR functions use.
Worked example: why timing changes the answer
Suppose you invest ₹50,000 on 1 January 2023, add another ₹30,000 on 1 January 2024, and the holding is worth ₹1,05,000 by 1 July 2025. Total invested: ₹80,000. Total value: ₹1,05,000. A naive "(final − invested) ÷ invested" calculation gives 31.25% — but that number treats both instalments as if they’d been invested on the same day, which they weren’t. Run the same three entries through the calculator above and the XIRR comes out to roughly 13.56% a year — the figure that correctly accounts for the first ₹50,000 having a full year longer to grow than the ₹30,000 added a year later.
The gap between 31.25% (a meaningless raw percentage) and 13.56% (an actual annualised rate) is the entire reason XIRR exists.
XIRR vs. CAGR — when each one applies
CAGR needs exactly two data points: one beginning value and one ending value, with nothing added or removed in between. The moment there’s a second investment, a partial withdrawal, or an SIP with multiple instalment dates, CAGR can’t correctly describe the return anymore — that’s exactly the situation XIRR is built for. As a rule of thumb: use the CAGR Calculator for a single lumpsum held untouched between two dates, and XIRR for anything with more than one cash flow — a running SIP, a portfolio with top-ups and withdrawals, or an investment you’re tracking against a current market value rather than a final sale.
The most common way to get XIRR wrong
By far the most frequent mistake is a sign error — entering an investment as a positive number instead of negative, or vice versa for money received. Since XIRR solves for the rate that makes all cash flows net to zero, a single wrong sign can either produce a wildly incorrect rate or prevent the calculation from converging at all. The second most common mistake is forgetting the final "current value" row entirely for a holding you haven’t sold — without it, the calculation only reflects money that’s actually left or entered your account, understating a position that’s still growing.
Frequently asked questions
What sign should each cash flow have?
Money you invested (money leaving your pocket) should be negative. Money you received — withdrawals, or the current value of what you still hold, entered as a final row — should be positive.
Do I need to include today’s value if I still hold the investment?
Yes. Add one final positive row dated today for the current market value of your holding — without it, the calculation only reflects money that has actually been returned to you.
Why might the calculator fail to find a rate?
XIRR needs at least one negative and one positive cash flow to solve — if every entry has the same sign, or the dates/amounts don’t allow a solution to converge, it will show an error.
Can XIRR be negative?
Yes — if your holding is worth less than you put in (accounting for timing), XIRR will correctly come out negative, the same way CAGR can.
Does the order I enter cash flows in matter?
No — the calculator sorts every entry by date internally before solving, so you can add rows in any order.
How is XIRR different from mutual fund "rolling returns"?
Rolling returns look at how a fund performed across many overlapping historical periods (to show consistency over time). XIRR is specific to your own actual cash flows and dates — it’s a personal return calculation, not a fund performance metric.
Can I use this for a stock portfolio, not just mutual funds?
Yes — XIRR works for any set of dated cash flows, including individual stock buys and sells, dividends received, and a final current-value row for what you still hold.