Free tools · Returns
Compounding calculator — what a return rate turns capital into
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Short answer
Compound growth follows final value = capital × (1 + annual return)^years, with monthly contributions each compounding from the month they arrive. ₹2,00,000 at 12% a year becomes about ₹6,21,000 in ten years; adding ₹10,000 a month takes the total past ₹29 lakh, of which ₹12 lakh is contributions. This calculator projects both — and is a projection tool, not a promise: real trading returns arrive unevenly, and drawdowns compound too.
Final value
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Total contributed
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Growth earned
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Reference: ₹1,00,000 compounded annually, no additions
Value = ₹1,00,000 × (1 + rate)^years. Gross of tax and charges.
| Annual return | 5 years | 10 years | 15 years | 20 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8% | ₹1,46,933 | ₹2,15,892 | ₹3,17,217 | ₹4,66,096 |
| 10% | ₹1,61,051 | ₹2,59,374 | ₹4,17,725 | ₹6,72,750 |
| 12% | ₹1,76,234 | ₹3,10,585 | ₹5,47,357 | ₹9,64,629 |
| 15% | ₹2,01,136 | ₹4,04,556 | ₹8,13,706 | ₹16,36,654 |
| 20% | ₹2,48,832 | ₹6,19,174 | ₹15,40,702 | ₹38,33,760 |
Compounding rewards two undramatic things: time in the game and staying in the game. The arithmetic is genuinely startling — at 15% a year, capital doubles roughly every five years, and regular monthly additions quietly out-contribute heroic return-chasing for most account sizes. That is the constructive use of this calculator: seeing what modest, sustainable rates build.
The destructive use is typing in 5% a month and planning a retirement. Enter your capital, expected annual return, period and optional monthly addition below — then read the section under the tool about what the projection assumes.
What compounding projections assume — and hide
The formula assumes returns arrive smoothly and always positively. Real trading returns are lumpy: a strategy averaging 15% a year might deliver +40%, −10%, +25%, −5% — and the sequence contains drawdowns the smooth curve never shows. Volatility also drags on compounding: +50% then −50% in successive years is not 0% but −25%, because losses compound against you with the same machinery that compounds gains for you.
This is why the projection and the plan are different documents. Project with a rate you have evidence for — a multi-year backtest with honest costs, or a live track record — not with your best month annualised. And subtract reality’s frictions: taxes on trading gains, charges on every trade, and the months capital sits waiting for setups.
The monthly-contribution effect
For accounts under a few tens of lakhs, contribution rate usually beats return rate as the growth lever. At 12% a year, ₹10,000 monthly additions build more wealth in a decade than doubling the return to 24% on a static ₹2 lakh — and the contribution lever carries no risk of ruin, while chasing doubled returns usually does. The calculator’s breakdown of “contributed vs earned” makes this comparison concrete for your numbers.
For a trader, the equivalent of the SIP is disciplined capital allocation: adding to the account on schedule, sizing risk so drawdowns never force withdrawals, and letting a validated strategy compound uninterrupted. Compounding’s only unforgivable sin is the large loss that resets the clock — which is what daily loss caps and position sizing exist to prevent.
These calculators are free, run entirely in your browser, and store nothing. They produce estimates for NSE trades based on published rates and standard formulas — not investment advice, and not a substitute for your broker’s contract note. INDfolio AI builds algo trading software; the honest connection is that our backtests apply this same cost arithmetic to every simulated trade.