Find Out Exactly How Fast Your Investment Is Really Growing
This CAGR calculator tells you the true year-on-year growth rate of any investment — mutual funds, stocks, FDs, real estate, or anything else — in seconds. Type in what you put in, what it is worth now, and how many years have passed. You get the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) — a single, honest percentage that lets you compare any two investments fairly.
CAGR strips away the noise of market ups and downs and shows you the smoothed annual rate at which your money grew. A plain total-return percentage (say, "my investment doubled") tells you nothing about how long it took; CAGR does — which is why fund managers, analysts, and SEBI use it as the standard return metric for mutual funds.
Formula at a glance (snippet):
CAGR = (End Value / Beginning Value) ^ (1 / Number of Years) − 1
Example: ₹1,00,000 grew to ₹2,50,000 in 6 years →
(2,50,000 / 1,00,000)^(1/6) − 1 = 2.5^0.1667 − 1 ≈ 0.1647 = 16.47% CAGR.
The plain total return was 150%, but the annual rate that produced it was 16.47% — a far more useful number when comparing two investments side by side.
How to Use This CAGR Calculator
- Beginning Value (₹): Enter the amount you originally invested or the starting value of the asset.
- Ending Value (₹): Enter what that investment is worth today (or at the end of the period).
- Number of Years: Enter the total holding period. You can use decimals — e.g., 2.5 for two and a half years.
- Click Calculate. The tool instantly shows you the CAGR (%) and the absolute return (%) side by side.
No sign-up, no spreadsheet, no formula memorisation needed. Everything runs in your browser — your numbers are never sent to any server.
Worked Example: Comparing Two Investments
Say you invested ₹5 lakh in a large-cap mutual fund five years ago. Today the investment is worth ₹9.5 lakh.
- Beginning Value: ₹5,00,000
- Ending Value: ₹9,50,000
- Years: 5
The absolute return is 90% — sounds impressive. But the CAGR works out to:
(9,50,000 / 5,00,000)^(1/5) − 1
= 1.9^0.2 − 1
≈ 0.1367
= 13.67% per yearNow compare that with a PPF account where you deposited ₹5 lakh over the same period and it is now worth ₹8.2 lakh (CAGR ≈ 10.4%). The mutual fund clearly won — but you needed CAGR to see that clearly. A simple "90% vs 64%" comparison of total returns is misleading if the time periods were even slightly different.
How CAGR Is Calculated — the Formula Explained
CAGR answers this question: "If my investment had grown at a perfectly steady rate every single year, what would that rate be?" Here is the formula:
CAGR (%) = [ (End Value / Beginning Value) ^ (1 / Years) − 1 ] × 100The ^ (1/Years) part is the nth root — it undoes the effect of compounding over multiple years to give you the equivalent single-year rate. Your calculator or Excel's =POWER() function does the same thing.
| Beginning Value | Ending Value | Years | Absolute Return | CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₹1,00,000 | ₹1,50,000 | 3 | 50% | 14.47% |
| ₹2,00,000 | ₹5,00,000 | 7 | 150% | 13.99% |
| ₹5,00,000 | ₹9,50,000 | 5 | 90% | 13.67% |
| ₹10,00,000 | ₹1,00,00,000 | 15 | 900% | 16.60% |
Notice how the absolute return numbers look very different, yet the CAGRs are surprisingly close. That is why CAGR is the right metric for comparing investment performance.
Rules and Benchmarks to Keep in Mind (FY 2025-26)
CAGR is a mathematical tool, not a regulated rate — but these benchmarks help you judge whether your number is good or not:
- Savings account: Typically 2.5%–4% per year.
- Fixed Deposits (FDs): Most major banks offer 6.5%–7.5% per year for 1–5 year tenures in FY 2025-26.
- PPF (Public Provident Fund): The government-declared rate is 7.1% per annum for Q1 FY 2025-26 (compounded annually). Refer to the National Savings Institute (NSI) for the latest rate.
- Large-cap equity mutual funds (long run): Historical CAGR of roughly 10%–14% over 10+ years — though past performance is not a guarantee of future returns.
- Nifty 50 index: Has delivered a CAGR of approximately 13%–14% over the last 20 years (as per publicly available NSE data).
- Tax on equity gains: Long-term capital gains (LTCG) above ₹1.25 lakh on listed equities are taxed at 12.5% (without indexation) as per the Union Budget 2024 amendments applicable for FY 2025-26. Short-term gains are taxed at 20%. Check the Income Tax Department for updated slabs.
Note: CAGR does not account for taxes, exit loads, expense ratios, or inflation. Always factor these in when judging real-world returns.
Practical Tips — Get the Most Out of This Tool
- Use it to compare, not just calculate. Run the tool twice — once for each investment — and compare the two CAGRs directly. That is where it becomes powerful.
- Inflation-adjusted CAGR (real return): If India's average inflation is ~5% and your FD gives a CAGR of 7%, your real return is only about 2%. Worth knowing.
- CAGR works best for lump-sum investments. If you invested money in multiple tranches (like a monthly SIP), CAGR will not give you an accurate picture — you need XIRR for that. Try our Mutual Fund Return Calculator — CAGR & Absolute Return which handles both scenarios.
- Decimals are fine for years. Held something for 18 months? Enter 1.5. The formula handles it correctly.
- Do not confuse CAGR with interest rate. Your bank FD has a fixed interest rate. CAGR is what you calculate after the fact to compare it with a market-linked product.
- Check for survivorship bias. A fund that has a great 10-year CAGR may have simply survived while similar funds folded. CAGR measures the outcome, not the risk taken to get there.
All calculations happen entirely in your browser. No data is stored, uploaded, or shared — your financial figures stay private on your device.
Takeaway: CAGR is the single most useful number for judging whether an investment is actually working hard for you — use the calculator above to find yours right now.