What is future value?
Future value (FV) is what a sum of money invested today, or invested regularly over time, will be worth at a specified future date, once compound growth is applied.
It is the forward-looking half of the time value of money: a rupee invested today is worth more than a rupee received in the future, because that rupee can earn a return in the meantime.
This calculator handles the two most common Indian investing patterns. Enter a one-time lumpsum, a monthly SIP amount, or both together, and it projects each separately before adding them into a single total.
The future value formula
This calculator applies two related formulas, one for a lumpsum and one for a series of monthly contributions.
FV (lumpsum) = PV × (1 + r/m) ^ (m × n)FV (SIP) = P × [((1 + i)^t − 1) / i] × (1 + i)| Variable | Meaning |
|---|---|
| PV | Present value: the one-time lumpsum invested today |
| r | Annual expected return, entered as a percentage |
| m | Compounding frequency per year (1, 2, 4, or 12) |
| n | Number of years the lumpsum stays invested |
| P | The fixed monthly SIP contribution |
| i | The equivalent monthly rate, derived from the annual rate |
| t | Number of months the SIP runs |
The total future value shown by the calculator is simply the sum of both results, useful when you plan to invest a lumpsum and add a monthly SIP at the same time.
Worked example: how return rate changes the outcome
Take an SIP of Rs 10,000 a month for 15 years. The assumed annual return changes the final corpus by lakhs of rupees, even though the monthly contribution never changes.
| Assumed Return | Future Value After 15 Years |
|---|---|
| 8% p.a. | Rs 33.98 lakh |
| 10% p.a. | Rs 40.16 lakh |
| 12% p.a. | Rs 47.59 lakh |
| 14% p.a. | Rs 56.52 lakh |
Total invested across all four scenarios is the same Rs 18 lakh (Rs 10,000 for 180 months). The gap between Rs 33.98 lakh and Rs 56.52 lakh comes entirely from the assumed rate, which is why a realistic return assumption matters more than most people expect.
Lumpsum versus SIP: which grows faster
A lumpsum invested today almost always produces a higher future value than an SIP that adds up to the same total invested amount, because the full sum starts compounding immediately.
A Rs 5 lakh lumpsum at 12 percent for 20 years grows to roughly Rs 48.23 lakh. An SIP of about Rs 2,083 a month at the same rate over the same 20 years, which also totals Rs 5 lakh invested, grows to only about Rs 19.16 lakh, since most of that money is contributed much later in the tenure.
This does not make an SIP a worse choice. Most people do not have a large lumpsum sitting idle, and an SIP is what turns monthly income into long-term wealth in a disciplined way.
How compounding frequency changes the future value
More frequent compounding produces a marginally higher future value for the same nominal annual rate, since returns are added back into the principal more often.
| Compounding | Rs 1 Lakh at 10% for 10 Years |
|---|---|
| Yearly | Rs 2,59,374 |
| Half-Yearly | Rs 2,65,330 |
| Quarterly | Rs 2,68,506 |
| Monthly | Rs 2,70,704 |
The gap widens with a larger sum and a longer tenure. A Rs 10 lakh lumpsum at 12 percent for 20 years reaches about Rs 96.46 lakh with yearly compounding, but about Rs 1.09 crore with monthly compounding, a difference of over Rs 12.4 lakh from compounding frequency alone.
Choosing a realistic return rate
The return rate you assume should match the type of product the money is actually invested in, not an optimistic round number.
Diversified equity mutual funds are commonly modelled at 10 to 12 percent per year over the long term, based on historical category averages tracked by AMFI. Debt funds and bank fixed deposits sit closer to 6 to 8 percent, and a balanced portfolio of both is often modelled at 8 to 10 percent.
For a risk-free, government-backed reference point, the current PPF rate of 7.1 percent per annum has been unchanged since April 2020. Overestimating the return assumption is one of the most common ways a future value projection ends up misleading a real financial plan.
Present Value Calculator
Going the other direction? Discount a future amount back to what it is worth today.
Future value in Indian retirement and savings planning
Future value calculations sit behind nearly every long-term Indian savings product, not just mutual funds.
Employee Provident Fund (EPF). The EPFO credits interest annually on the combined employee and employer contribution, compounding a salaried employee's retirement balance over an entire working career.
Public Provident Fund (PPF). A 15-year, government-backed instrument that compounds annually, commonly used as a low-risk anchor within a retirement future value projection alongside higher-return equity SIPs.
National Pension System (NPS). A market-linked retirement account where the equity, corporate debt, and government bond allocation each carry a different expected return, meaning a single blended future value assumption is only an approximation of what NPS will actually deliver.
How to use this calculator
This calculator takes four inputs, plus one optional setting:
The future value, donut chart, and year-by-year growth schedule update instantly as any input changes.
Limitations of this calculator
It assumes a constant rate of return. Real markets move up and down year to year. A single flat rate applied across the full tenure smooths out that volatility and cannot capture a bad sequence of early years.
It does not account for step-up contributions. Many investors increase their SIP amount every year as income grows. For that scenario, the Step-Up SIP Calculator gives a more accurate projection.
It shows nominal value, not inflation-adjusted value. The rupee figure shown is what the account balance will read on paper, not what that money will actually buy at a future date. Use the Real Return Calculator to convert the assumed return into an inflation-adjusted figure first.
Common mistakes when projecting future value
Using the same return rate for equity and debt. Blending a 12 percent equity assumption with a 12 percent debt allocation overstates the debt portion's realistic growth by several percentage points.
Ignoring taxes on withdrawal. The future value shown is pre-tax. Equity mutual fund gains, FD interest, and debt fund gains are each taxed differently, so the amount actually available to spend is lower than the projected figure.
Forgetting to increase the SIP amount over time. Keeping a fixed monthly SIP for 20 or 30 years while ignoring salary growth understates what is realistically achievable. A step-up approach usually reaches a target corpus faster with a smaller starting SIP.
Future value versus present value
Future value and present value are the same relationship viewed from opposite ends of the timeline.
| Future Value | Present Value | |
|---|---|---|
| Question answered | What will today's amount grow to? | What is a future amount worth today? |
| Direction | Compounds forward from today | Discounts backward from a future date |
| Typical use | Projecting an investment's growth | Pricing a future payout or settlement |
Use the Present Value Calculator to work backward from a future amount, or the NPV Calculator when there are multiple cash flows across different years to evaluate.
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