What is a Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP)?

An SWP lets you withdraw a fixed amount from your mutual fund investment at regular intervals — monthly, quarterly, or annually. Your remaining corpus continues to earn returns, making it ideal for generating regular income from investments.

How long will my corpus last with SWP?

It depends on your withdrawal amount, corpus size, and the returns your remaining investment earns. This calculator shows you exactly how many years your corpus will sustain your desired monthly withdrawal.

How are SWP withdrawals taxed?

Only the gains portion of each withdrawal is taxed, not the whole amount. For units sold from 1 April 2025: equity funds are taxed at 20% if the units were held up to 12 months, and at 12.5% after that on gains above ₹1.25 lakh a year. Funds with more than 65% in debt are taxed at your slab rate however long you hold them. Funds with 35–65% in equity are taxed at 12.5% after 24 months and at your slab rate before that. Dividends (IDCW) are taxed at your slab rate, so for equity funds an SWP is usually more tax-efficient than dividends. This calculator estimates the tax for the fund type you pick.

What is a safe withdrawal rate for retirement?

The "4% rule" from US research suggests withdrawing about 4% of your corpus in the first year and raising it with inflation. Indian inflation has generally been higher than in the US, so many planners suggest a lower starting rate. Use this calculator with the inflation toggle on to test whether your own withdrawal rate lasts as long as you need.

What is an SWP plan and how does it work?

An SWP plan is an instruction to your mutual fund to sell enough units on a fixed date each month (or quarter) to pay you a set amount. The units left in the fund stay invested and keep earning returns. You can start, change or stop an SWP at any time; check the fund for an exit load if you withdraw in the first year.

Should my SWP withdrawal increase with inflation?

For retirement income, yes. Prices rise every year, so a fixed withdrawal loses buying power: ₹50,000 a month today is worth about half that in 12 years at 6% inflation. Most funds let you raise the SWP amount whenever you choose; plan for a yearly increase in line with inflation. This calculator applies one by default so you see how long the corpus really lasts.

How does an SWP calculator with inflation work?

It raises your withdrawal once a year by the inflation rate you choose, so year t pays the first-year amount × (1 + inflation)^(t − 1), while the remaining corpus keeps compounding monthly at your expected return. At ₹50,000 a month and 6% inflation, you withdraw about ₹84,500 a month in year 10. The calculator then shows the year the corpus runs out, if it does, so you can compare it with how long you need the income.

Which type of fund is best for SWP monthly income?

It depends on how long the money must last. For withdrawals over the next few years, debt or conservative hybrid funds keep the value steadier. For 15 years or more, many retirees keep part of the corpus in equity or balanced advantage funds so it can keep pace with inflation, and draw the SWP from a debt portion. Compare categories by their returns over full market cycles and their expense ratios, not recent performance. This is general information, not a fund recommendation.

Can I use this calculator for an SWP in any AMC, like SBI or HDFC Mutual Fund?

Yes. The maths of an SWP is the same at every fund house: enter your corpus, monthly withdrawal and the return you expect from your fund. Use a conservative return, not the fund's best past year, and turn on inflation for a realistic picture.

SWP Calculator With Inflation

Find out how long your corpus lasts when your monthly withdrawal rises with inflation each year. Turn inflation off to compare with a fixed withdrawal.

Inflate withdrawal each year?

Realistic for retirement planning: your ₹/month grows with inflation. Off: constant ₹/month (good for fixed income).

% / yr

Total Corpus

Monthly Withdrawal

Expected Return

Tenure

Fund type (for tax)

Equity: 20% on gains within 12 months, 12.5% after on gains above ₹1.25 lakh a year. Hybrid (35–65% equity): slab rate up to 24 months, 12.5% after. Debt (over 65%): slab rate at any holding period.

How long your corpus lasts

Withdrawn
Left at the end
Capital-gains tax

Where the money goes

of your corpus plus growth is paid out to you

Withdrawn Left at the end

Growth paid for this much of your withdrawals
Monthly withdrawal in the last year

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Year-by-Year Breakdown

Year	Total Withdrawn	Growth Earned	Est. Tax	Balance

The annual return is converted to the equivalent monthly rate, (1 + return)^1/12 − 1; each month's growth is added first and the withdrawal is taken at month end. Withdrawn, growth and balance figures are pre-tax. The tax estimate assumes the whole corpus is invested at the start of the SWP (so the first withdrawals are short-term), that tax is paid out of each withdrawal, and that you have no other equity gains in the year; it ignores surcharge, the 4% cess and your other income. Results are indicative only.

What is a SWP Calculator?

A SWP (Systematic Withdrawal Plan) calculator helps you plan a regular monthly income from an existing mutual fund corpus. You enter your total investment, the amount you wish to withdraw each month, the expected annual return and the tenure, and the calculator shows how long your corpus will last, how much growth it will earn, and the year-by-year balance.

SWP is the mirror image of SIP: instead of building a corpus month by month, you draw it down gradually while the remaining balance continues to earn market returns. How long it lasts depends mostly on the starting withdrawal rate. At a 10% return with withdrawals rising 6% a year, starting at about 4.9% of the corpus a year lasts 40 years, about 5.7% lasts 30 years and about 7.3% lasts 20 years.

Worked Example: ₹1 Crore SWP With ₹50,000 a Month

Illustrative: you retire with ₹1 crore in an equity fund and start withdrawing ₹50,000 a month. Enter a corpus of ₹1,00,00,000, a withdrawal of ₹50,000, a 10% return and a 30-year tenure. Keep the inflation toggle on at 6% and leave the fund type as equity.

Result	Value
Total withdrawn	₹3,94,37,670
Total growth	₹2,94,37,670
Corpus lasted	27.5 yrs (corpus exhausted, final balance ₹0)
Estimated capital-gains tax	₹32,64,869

The withdrawal climbs to about ₹84,500 a month in year 10 and about ₹1.51 lakh in year 20, and the money runs out two and a half years short of the 30-year goal. The starting rate looks modest at 0.50% of the corpus a month (6% a year), but that is above the roughly 5.7% a year that would last 30 years.

The decision this informs is the starting withdrawal: trim it, or plan another source of income for the last few years.

Why use an SWP Calculator With Inflation?

A fixed SWP buys less every year. If you need ₹50,000 a month today, at 6% inflation you will need about ₹84,500 a month in year 10 and about ₹1.51 lakh a month in year 20 to keep the same lifestyle. A calculator that keeps the withdrawal flat makes your corpus look far safer than it is.

Take the worked example above: ₹1 crore earning 10% a year, withdrawing ₹50,000 a month. With a fixed withdrawal, the corpus keeps growing and never runs out. Raise the withdrawal by 6% each year and the same corpus runs out in about 27½ years. That gap is why this calculator applies inflation by default; switch it off above to compare.

The rule is simple: withdrawal in year t = first-year withdrawal × (1 + inflation)^{t − 1}. At ₹50,000 and 6%, that is ₹50,000 × 1.06⁹ ≈ ₹84,500 in year 10 and ₹50,000 × 1.06¹⁹ ≈ ₹1.51 lakh in year 20.

The withdrawal rises once a year, at the end of each SWP year, which is how most people revise an SWP in practice. Returns are compounded monthly, and the tax shown is paid out of each withdrawal rather than from the remaining corpus.

SIP vs SWP: Key Differences

Feature	SIP	SWP
Direction	Invest (buy units)	Withdraw (sell units)
Goal	Build a corpus	Draw down a corpus
Ideal phase	Accumulation (working years)	Distribution (retirement)
Monthly cash flow	Outflow (you pay)	Inflow (you receive)
Primary risk	Market volatility during build-up	Sequence-of-returns risk at start

How to Use This SWP Calculator

1

Enter your total corpus

This is the lump sum you have built up, such as your retirement fund or a matured investment. Use the slider or type the value directly.
2

Set your monthly withdrawal

Choose an amount that covers your monthly needs, but start well below what the corpus earns, because the withdrawal rises every year. At 10% returns and 6% raises, ₹1 crore supports about ₹47,500 a month for 30 years; starting near its ₹79,700 monthly return lasts only about 14 years.
3

Set expected return and tenure

Use a conservative figure, lower for hybrid or debt funds than for equity, since past returns are not guaranteed. Set the tenure to your expected retirement horizon.
4

Check sustainability

The status badge and year-by-year table above show whether your corpus is sustained or exhausted. Adjust withdrawal or return until the plan is sustainable.

When Should You Use SWP?

Retirement Income

Replace your salary with a steady monthly payout from your accumulated corpus, while the balance continues to grow.

Systematic Profit Booking

Exit a well-performing mutual fund in phases to reduce the risk of redeeming everything at a market peak.

Post-Goal Drawdown

Once a financial goal (house, child education) is reached, use SWP to deploy the funds systematically rather than spending all at once.

Tax-Efficient Income

Unlike FD interest, where the whole interest is taxed at your slab rate, only the gains portion of each SWP instalment is taxable. For equity funds held over 12 months that gain is taxed at 12.5% above ₹1.25 lakh a year. For funds with over 65% in debt the gain is taxed at your slab rate, just like FD interest, so the advantage there is mainly deferral.