How long to build ₹1 crore with a SIP?

The number everyone asks about

"How long will it take to make a crore?" is the most common SIP question there is, and it has a short answer that depends on three inputs: how much you invest each month, what return you assume, and whether the amount grows. Nobody knows the return in advance, so the honest approach is a table of assumptions, not a promise.

Every figure below is an illustration. We assumed the return is earned evenly and compounded monthly. Real equity returns arrive in lumps and can be negative for years, so treat the results as a range of plausible timelines and not a forecast.

Years to ₹1 crore, flat SIP

Two things stand out. First, the amount you invest matters more than the return you assume: moving from ₹10,000 to ₹25,000 saves seven years at 12%, while moving the return from 10% to 14% saves about four. Second, the curve is gentle at the higher end. A ₹50,000 SIP at 10% already gets there in ten years, and no plausible return gets ₹10,000 there in under 19.

You can test any combination in the SIP calculator, or work backwards from a target and date with the years to goal calculator.

The same table with a 10% yearly step-up

Most salaries rise. A SIP that rises with them reaches the goal much sooner:

At 12%, a ₹10,000 SIP that grows by 10% a year (₹11,000 in year two, ₹12,100 in year three) takes 16.3 years instead of 20.8. That is about four and a half years saved for an increase most people would barely notice year to year. Our step-up SIP calculator lets you change the rate, and the post on raising a SIP each year looks at it in more detail.

What a crore will actually buy

Time cuts both ways. A crore reached in 20 years is not today's crore. At an assumed 6% inflation:

• ₹1 crore after 10 years buys what about ₹56 lakh buys today.
• After 20 years, about ₹31 lakh.
• After 30 years, about ₹17 lakh.

So the better goal is "₹1 crore in today's money". Work out the future figure first, using the inflation calculator: at 6%, today's ₹1 crore needs about ₹3.2 crore in 20 years. Then ask the SIP question again. A target that moves with inflation is also the right way to think about a retirement corpus.

Tax on the way out

When you redeem equity fund units after holding them over a year, gains above ₹1.25 lakh in a financial year are taxed at 12.5%; sold within a year, at 20%, as of October 2026. Because a SIP buys in many lots, each instalment has its own holding period, and the mutual fund taxation guide explains how units are matched on sale. For large corpuses, redeeming over several years keeps more gains inside the annual exemption.

Making the plan hold up

1. Start with the money you can sustain. A ₹50,000 SIP that you cancel in year three loses to a ₹15,000 SIP you keep for twenty. Check your budget with the 50-30-20 rule before choosing the number.

2. Keep an emergency fund first. Without one, a bad year forces you to redeem equity at the wrong time. Use the emergency fund calculator to size it.

3. Expect the bumpy years. A crore plan assumes you hold through falls. Our note on whether to pause a SIP in a crash gives a rule for those months.

4. Review once a year, not once a week. Track progress with the net worth tracker approach and adjust the amount, not the plan.

5. Mind the cost. A 1% higher expense ratio compounds against you over two decades; see what a fund really costs.

A simple way to pick your number

Choose a date and a target in today's rupees. Inflate the target to that date. Divide by the share your SIP must cover (you may have an EPF or PPF alongside). Then read the monthly amount off the SIP calculator at a conservative return of 10%, and add the step-up. If the monthly figure is out of reach, move the date, not the return assumption. Raising the assumed return until the plan "works" is the easiest way to fool yourself.

For the compounding behind these tables, see the magic of compounding, and the glossary entry for SIP.

A worked check on the numbers

To see where the tables come from, take the ₹25,000 SIP at 12%. The tables convert 12% a year into its monthly equivalent (about 0.95% a month), and at that rate ₹25,000 a month into roughly ₹1 crore in about 13.8 years. Add a 10% yearly rise and the same crore arrives at about 11.1 years, because the later instalments are larger and the early ones have compounded longest. The pattern repeats across the grid: the first years add little, and the last years add most. That is why stopping at year eight, when the balance looks small, forfeits the stretch where most of the gain arrives. It is also why a delay of even two years at the start costs more than the same two years of lower returns later.

Sources. The rules that govern mutual funds and the way SIPs are executed are set out by SEBI and explained for investors on AMFI's website. Capital gains tax rates are published on the Income Tax Department's portal.

This article is for education, not investment advice. Returns are not guaranteed and the figures above are assumptions; rules and rates change, so verify them before you act.