Inflation Calculator
See how inflation erodes your purchasing power over time. Adjust the sliders and the numbers update as you go.
Purchasing Power
You'll Need
Value Erosion
Purchasing Power Over Time
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Year-by-Year Breakdown
| Year | To Match Today's ₹ | Purchasing Power of ₹ | Value Lost |
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What Is an Inflation Calculator?
An inflation calculator (or inflation simulator) shows how rising prices erode the purchasing power of your money over time. If inflation averages 6% per year, something that costs ₹1 lakh today will cost approximately ₹3.2 lakh in 20 years. Meanwhile, ₹1 lakh kept in a savings account earning 2.5% interest will buy only about half of what it buys today.
Your salary may grow every year, but if the costs that matter most to you, such as education and healthcare, rise faster than your income, your real purchasing power is shrinking even while your bank balance looks bigger.
This free inflation simulator lets you visualise exactly how inflation erodes your money over 5, 10, 20, or 30 years. Use it to plan realistic savings targets for retirement, your child's education, medical emergencies, or any long-term financial goal where future costs need to be estimated in today's rupees.
Worked example: ₹10 lakh over 20 years at 6% inflation
Illustrative: ₹10,00,000, 6% inflation a year, 20 years ahead. These are the default inputs.
At 6%, prices multiply about 3.2 times in 20 years. So ₹10 lakh kept as cash will buy what ₹3,11,805 buys today, a 68.8% loss of purchasing power. Turn it around and you will need ₹32,07,135 in 20 years to buy what ₹10 lakh buys now.
Use the second number when you set a goal. If your household spends ₹10 lakh a year today, a retirement plan that starts in 20 years should be built around about ₹32 lakh a year, not ₹10 lakh. For school fees or medical costs, switch the rate to the 10% or 12% preset, because those costs usually rise faster than general prices.
How to Use This Inflation Simulator
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1
Set the amount
Enter the amount in today's rupees, e.g. ₹1 crore for retirement, ₹50 lakh for education, or ₹50,000/month for living expenses. Use the preset buttons for quick access.
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2
Choose an inflation rate
Use 6% as a conservative baseline for general inflation (the latest CPI print was 5.54% for September 2026, provisional). Use higher rates, such as the 10% and 12% presets, to stress-test education or medical goals, since specific categories can run well above headline CPI.
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3
Set the time horizon
How many years into the future are you planning? For retirement at 60, enter (60 minus your current age). For a child's college at 18, enter (18 minus their current age).
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4
Read the results
The calculator shows the future cost (how much you'll actually need), the purchasing power erosion (how much today's money will be worth), and a year-by-year breakdown chart so you can see the compounding effect of inflation over time.
Inflation Rates in India: What to Use for Planning
General (CPI): latest 5.54%
CPI inflation was 5.54% in September 2026 (provisional), up from 4.83% in August (MoSPI, new series with base 2024=100). RBI targets 4% (±2%) until March 2031. Using 6% for long-term planning builds in a margin of safety.
Education: 8–10%
School and college fees usually rise faster than general prices, so plan with 8–10% a year (our child education planner defaults to 8%). An engineering course that costs ₹10L today would cost about ₹26L in 10 years at 10% inflation.
Medical: 10–12%
Healthcare costs tend to rise faster than headline CPI, so plan with 10–12% a year for medical goals. At those rates, a surgery costing ₹5 lakh today would cost about ₹13–15.5 lakh in 10 years. That is why adequate health insurance and a medical emergency fund matter so much.
Housing & Rent: 5–8%
Rents in metro cities often rise 5–8% a year, more in high-demand cities. Property prices have a longer cycle but compound significantly over 15–20 years.
Fuel & Transport: 6–10%
Fuel, fares and vehicle costs can swing sharply from year to year. If you're planning a car purchase 5 years from now, factor in at least 6% annual price inflation on the showroom cost.
Food: 6–8%
Food inflation in India is volatile, driven by monsoons, supply chains and global commodity prices. Food inflation was 7.74% in September 2026 (provisional), up from 5.97% in August. Your monthly grocery bill of ₹15,000 today could be ₹27,000 in 10 years at 6% inflation.
Category ranges are planning assumptions, not official statistics. MoSPI publishes CPI sub-group indices (food, health, education and more) if you want to check a category's recent trend.
How to Beat Inflation in India
The only way to protect your purchasing power is to invest in assets that consistently deliver returns above the inflation rate. Here's how common Indian investment options compare:
- Savings account (about 2.5–4%; e.g. SBI 2.5%, Post Office 4%): usually loses to inflation. ₹1 lakh in a savings account at 2.5% for 20 years grows to about ₹1.64 lakh but can only buy about ₹51,000 worth of today's goods (at 6% inflation). You've lost about ₹49,000 in real terms.
- Fixed deposits: usually only modestly ahead of general inflation; check current bank rate cards, as FD rates move with the RBI repo rate. After 30% tax on interest (for those in the highest bracket), the real return is often negative.
- PPF (7.1% for Oct–Dec 2026): tax-free returns that marginally beat general inflation. Good for the safe portion of your portfolio, but won't outrun education or medical inflation.
- Equity mutual funds via SIP: the asset most likely to beat inflation over long periods, with real short-term volatility. A ₹10,000 SIP at 12% CAGR for 20 years grows to ₹1 crore, comfortably ahead of inflation.
- Real estate (varies by city): can beat inflation in high-growth locations but is illiquid, requires large capital, and maintenance costs add up.
- Gold: a reasonable long-term inflation hedge but volatile in the short term. If you hold it, a small slice such as 5–10% of your portfolio in gold ETFs or gold mutual funds is a common approach. The government has not issued new Sovereign Gold Bonds since February 2024; existing SGBs can still be bought on stock exchanges.
So start early. Compounding works both ways: inflation compounds against you, but your investments compound in your favour. The earlier you start, the wider the gap between your wealth and inflation's erosion.
