What return should I assume for wealth creation?

Indian equity indices have delivered roughly 11–13% a year over long periods, with wide variation in any single year. Twelve percent is the common planning assumption for a diversified equity portfolio; use 8–9% for a hybrid or debt-heavy mix. It is safer to plan on a lower number and be pleasantly surprised.

Does a SIP step-up really make that much difference?

Yes — it is usually the single biggest lever on the page. A ₹20,000 SIP raised 10% every year for 20 years at a 12% return finishes near ₹4 crore against about ₹2 crore for a flat ₹20,000, because every raise gets its own years of compounding. It rarely feels like a sacrifice, since the increase tracks your salary.

What will ₹1 crore be worth in 20 years?

At 6% inflation, about ₹31 lakh in today's purchasing power. That is why the calculator shows the inflation-adjusted value alongside the headline corpus, and why round-number targets set decades ahead are usually too small.

Is a lump sum or a SIP better for wealth creation?

A lump sum compounds for longer and wins mathematically if markets rise steadily, but it concentrates your entry into a single day's valuation. A SIP averages across market levels and matches how salaries arrive. Most investors do both: a monthly SIP from income plus lump sums from bonuses and windfalls.

Are taxes included in this projection?

No. Equity mutual fund gains held over a year are taxed as long-term capital gains above the annual exemption, and debt funds are taxed at slab rates. The corpus shown here is pre-tax, so the amount you can actually redeem will be somewhat lower.

Financial Planning ToolsWealth Creation Calculator

Free tool · No login · Updated Aug 2026

Wealth creation calculator — what does a monthly SIP become?

Project a SIP and a lump sum across any horizon: the corpus at the end, the year you cross each crore, how much of it is your money versus returns, and what it is actually worth after inflation.

In Short

Wealth creation is driven by three levers, in order of power: time, how much you invest, and the return. At a 12% return, a SIP of about ₹21,000 a month reaches ₹1 crore in 15 years, ₹10,000 a month reaches it in 20, and just ₹2,850 a month gets there over 30 — the same crore for roughly a seventh of the monthly amount, because returns do most of the work once they are given time. Enter your own numbers below.

Your plan

Drag a slider or type a value.

Monthly investmentYour SIP, before any step-up

₹

₹500₹5,00,000

Lump sum to start withA bonus, a maturity, or existing holdings

₹

₹0₹5 Cr

Years investedCompounding does most of its work late

yrs

140

Assumptions

Expected returnIndian equity has averaged 11–13% long term

4%20%

Expected inflationUsed only to show the real value

2%12%

Step up my SIP every year

The single most effective lever on this page — worth more than a point or two of extra return.

Corpus after 20 years

₹2.1Cr

From ₹20,000 a month plus a ₹1L lump sum at 12% a year.

You invest₹49L

Returns earn₹1.6Cr

Returns are 77% of the final corpus

Worth in today's money

₹65.7L

After 6% inflation over 20 years, that is what the corpus will actually buy. The purchasing power you gain is ₹16.7L above what you put in.

Start this SIP

Money multiplies

4.3×

Return above inflation

5.7%

Total months invested

240

Corpus added in the final year

+₹26L

How the corpus builds over 20 years

The gap between the two lines is compounding.

Corpus valueAmount invested

Yr 0Yr 3Yr 6Yr 9Yr 12Yr 15Yr 18Yr 20

The corpus reaches half its final value only at year 14.9 of 20. Everything after that point is compounding on compounding, which is why exiting early costs far more than it looks like it should.

Milestones on the way

Each crore arrives faster than the one before it.

₹1 crore

Year 14.5

You will have invested ₹37L by then

₹2 crore

Year 19.6

You will have invested ₹49L by then

₹5 crore

Not reached

Beyond the 20-year horizon

₹10 crore

Not reached

Beyond the 20-year horizon

What moves the number most

Each card shows what it does to the final corpus. Tap one to apply it and watch the projection above.

Why the last decade does the heavy lifting

Compounding is back-loaded. A ₹20,000 monthly SIP at 12% is worth about ₹46 lakh after ten years and about ₹2 crore after twenty — the second decade adds roughly three times what the first one did, on exactly the same contributions. Most of the difference between a good outcome and a great one is simply not interrupting the process.

The second lever is the step-up. Raising the monthly amount with your salary keeps the plan proportionate to your income, and every raise gets its own years of compounding — which is why a 10% annual step-up usually beats chasing two extra points of return.

The third is inflation, and it works against you. A crore two decades out buys roughly what ₹31 lakh buys today at 6% inflation, so a target set as a round number decades ahead is almost always too small. Plan in inflation-adjusted terms — the panel above shows both.

The formulas

FV_SIP = P × [ (1 + i)^m − 1 ] / i × (1 + i)

FV_lump = L × (1 + i)^m

Real = FV / (1 + π)^y

P — monthly investment · L — lump sum

i — monthly return, R ÷ 12 · m — number of months

y — years invested · π — inflation

With a step-up, each year's instalment is recomputed and compounded for the years that remain.

Frequently Asked Questions

At a 12% return, roughly ₹21,000 a month over 15 years, about ₹10,000 a month over 20 years, and around ₹2,850 a month over 30 years. The monthly requirement falls far faster than the horizon lengthens, because returns rather than contributions dominate the later years. Switch to the "What do I need to invest?" tab above to solve for your own target.