Lumpsum Calculator
Project the future value of a one-time investment at an assumed annual return.
- Invested
- Value
- Invested
- ₹1.00L
- Est. gain
- ₹2.11L
Projection assumes a constant 12% annual return, compounded yearly. Actual returns vary.
Independent · No commissions · No fund-house data — how the numbers are computed
How it works
A lumpsum investment puts one amount to work on day one and lets it compound untouched. This calculator projects its future value: enter the amount, the number of years and an expected annual return, and it compounds the amount yearly. The defaults — ₹1 lakh for 10 years at 12% — illustrate the mechanics; the 12% is an assumption you should change to match the asset you actually have in mind.
The projection assumes the same return every single year, which no real fund delivers. Compounding at a flat rate produces a smooth exponential curve; a real investment takes a jagged path around it, and over short horizons can sit well below the starting amount. The output is best read as "what this rate sustained over this period would produce", not as what any specific fund will do.
Because the whole amount is exposed from day one, a lumpsum outcome is more sensitive to when you invest than a SIP's — a crash in year one hits the full corpus. The historical version of this question is answerable on this site: the MF Calculator can backtest a lumpsum against a real fund's NAV history, and the STP Calculator models staggering a lumpsum into equity month by month.
FV = P × (1 + R)^nP is the amount invested, R is the assumed annual return as a decimal (12% = 0.12), and n is the number of years. The calculator compounds yearly.
Frequently asked questions
How is a lumpsum mutual fund investment taxed?
A lumpsum investment in an equity-oriented fund is taxed on redemption: gains on units held under 1 year attract 20% short-term capital gains tax, and gains on units held 1 year or more are taxed at 12.5% above a ₹1.25 lakh per-year exemption. For debt funds, since April 2023 all capital gains are added to your income and taxed at your slab rate, regardless of holding period.
Is it better to invest a lumpsum at once or spread it out?
Investing the full amount immediately maximizes time in the market, which historically wins more often than not in rising markets. Spreading it out — via an STP from a debt fund or a manual SIP — reduces the damage if a fall comes soon after investing, at the cost of lower returns if the market rises through the transfer period. It is a trade between expected return and regret risk, not a free lunch either way.
What does doubling money in a lumpsum investment require?
By the rule of 72, money doubles in roughly 72 divided by the annual return percentage: about 6 years at 12%, 9 years at 8%, and 14.4 years at 5%. This is an approximation of exact compound growth — the formula (1 + R)^n = 2 gives the precise answer — and it assumes the rate is actually sustained, which for market-linked investments is never guaranteed.
Why does this calculator's result differ from a fund's actual return?
A lumpsum calculator compounds one assumed rate every year; a real fund's NAV moves daily and its multi-year outcome depends on the exact entry and exit dates. Two investors in the same fund at the same assumed CAGR can see different results purely from timing. To see what a specific fund actually turned a lumpsum into, backtest it against the fund's NAV history rather than projecting at a flat rate.
Go further
See what a real fund actually turned a one-time investment into.
Model staggering this lumpsum from a debt fund into equity month by month.
The trade-offs between investing at once and spreading it out.
The annualized-return convention this projection assumes.
Why the growth curve steepens in the later years.