CAGR Calculator

Manually computing CAGR requires raising a ratio to a fractional power, a calculation that is tedious and error-prone by hand. This calculator handles it instantly so you can focus on interpreting results rather than arithmetic.

More practically, the CAGR Calculator enables fast what-if analysis across scenarios. If you are comparing two mutual funds, one that turned ₹50,000 into ₹1,80,000 over 8 years, and another that turned ₹70,000 into ₹2,40,000 over 10 years, the raw numbers are not directly comparable. Converting both to CAGR (roughly 17.3% vs 13.1%) gives you an immediate, apples-to-apples answer.

The reverse mode adds a goal-planning dimension. Investors who want to target a specific wealth milestone can enter their initial corpus, desired CAGR, and investment horizon to see what their portfolio must be worth at the end. This is particularly useful when evaluating real estate deals, startup equity, or alternative investments where promised returns need to be benchmarked against a realistic CAGR expectation.

For investors who already use our SIP Calculator for monthly investment planning, the CAGR Calculator is the natural complement for evaluating lump sum or past-performance analysis.

Mutual fund investors evaluating past performance will find CAGR essential. Rather than looking at point-to-point returns, comparing 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year CAGRs across fund categories gives a disciplined view of consistency. Investors researching whether an active fund has beaten its index benchmark benefit most from this tool.

Stock market investors can use it to assess whether a company's stock price or earnings have compounded at a rate that justifies its current valuation. A business growing revenue at 20% CAGR for 10 years is fundamentally different from one growing at 8%.

NPS and retirement planners who make lump-sum contributions and want to project how their corpus will grow use CAGR to model different growth scenarios. For ongoing monthly contribution planning, pair this with the NPS Calculator.

FD and RD investors can use CAGR to compare effective returns when different banks compound interest quarterly versus monthly versus annually, the CAGR normalises these differences. The Fixed Deposit Calculator gives you the maturity amount, and the CAGR Calculator helps you compare it against equity returns on a like-for-like basis.

Business owners and finance professionals measuring company growth, revenue, profit, or customer count, use CAGR to report performance over multi-year periods in board decks, investor presentations, and annual reports.

CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate): This is the primary output, the annualised rate at which your investment has grown. A CAGR of 12% means your money effectively grew by 12% every single year over the period, assuming gains were reinvested. Use this number to compare against benchmarks: Nifty 50's long-term CAGR of ~12–13%, inflation at 5–6% p.a., or FD rates at 6–7% p.a. Any investment with a CAGR comfortably above inflation is generating real wealth; below inflation, it is destroying purchasing power in real terms.

Absolute Return: This shows the total percentage gain from initial to final value, for example, 150% if you tripled your money. Absolute return is useful for communicating total outcome over the holding period but should never be used to compare investments with different durations. A 150% return over 20 years (roughly 4.7% CAGR) is far less impressive than 150% over 7 years (roughly 14.0% CAGR). Understanding both numbers together gives you the complete picture.

Total Gain: The rupee profit in absolute terms, Final Value minus Initial Value. This grounds the percentage outputs in real money. For tax planning purposes, this figure (broken down into short-term and long-term components) forms the basis for capital gains calculations. For investments beyond 1 year in equity, gains above ₹1 lakh are subject to LTCG tax at 10%, keep this in mind when evaluating high-CAGR outcomes. Pairing this with the Inflation Calculator can help you assess whether your real (inflation-adjusted) gain is as large as the nominal figure suggests.

1. Enter your Initial Value, the amount you originally invested or the starting value of the asset. For a mutual fund, this is your purchase NAV multiplied by units, or the amount you invested in a lump sum. Typical lump sum investments in India range from ₹10,000 to several lakhs.

2. Enter your Final Value, the current or exit value of the investment. For a mutual fund, check the current NAV and multiply by units held. For a stock, use current market price multiplied by shares held.

3. Set the Time Period, the number of complete years between your initial investment and the final value date. Use the slider to quickly explore how CAGR changes with different holding periods. Note: CAGR assumes whole years; for partial years, results are an approximation.

4. Read the CAGR, the highlighted result is your annualised growth rate. Compare it against your target return, benchmark index CAGR, or FD rates to assess performance.

5. Check Absolute Return and Total Gain, use these to understand the full picture: total percentage profit and actual rupee gain.

6. Use Reverse Mode to set targets, toggle to reverse mode, enter your target CAGR and initial investment, and set the time horizon to see what final value you need to achieve. Use this when evaluating whether a real estate deal, startup investment, or alternative asset can realistically deliver your required return.