How much SIP do you need to make ₹1 crore?

The monthly SIP you need depends on two things you control (how long you invest and how much) and one you do not (the return the market delivers). The table below shows the starting SIP that reaches ₹1 Cr at three assumed returns. It uses the same method as most fund house calculators: an instalment at the start of every month, compounded monthly. Figures are rounded up to the next ₹100.

Read across a row and the effect of returns is clear. Read down a column and the effect of time is far larger. At 12%, the SIP needed for 20 years is ₹10,100, while ten years needs ₹43,100, about 4.3 times as much.

With a flat SIP of ₹10,100 for 20 years, you put in about ₹24.02 L of your own money. The remaining ₹75.98 L is growth, and most of it arrives in the last few years, when the corpus is large enough for each year's return to add lakhs rather than thousands. This is why the early years of a SIP can feel slow and why stopping halfway costs far more than half the result.

If you already have savings, a one-time investment does more of the work. At the same assumed 12%, about ₹10.37 L invested today would grow to ₹1 crore in 20 years on its own. Most people combine the two: invest what they have now, then run a smaller SIP for the rest.

Most salaried investors cannot start with the full amount, but their income rises over time. A step-up SIP raises the instalment by a fixed percentage at the start of each year. With a 10% step-up, the starting SIP needed is much lower:

The trade-off is that a step-up plan puts in more money overall (₹34.56 L against ₹24.02 L), because the larger instalments come later and have less time to compound. It is still the more practical route for most people, because it matches how salaries grow.

₹1 crore in 20 years is not the same as ₹1 crore today. At 6% inflation, prices roughly treble over that period, so the corpus will buy about what ₹31.18 L buys now. If your goal is a crore in today's money, the real target is about ₹3.21 Cr, which needs a flat SIP of about ₹32,100 at 12%.

• Starting five years later, with 15 years left, raises the SIP from ₹10,100 to ₹19,900 at 12%.
• Over 20 years, a 10% step-up cuts the starting SIP by 50% compared with a flat SIP.
• Inflation of 6% shrinks the buying power of ₹1 crore by 69% over 20 years.

• Using the best past return. A plan that only works at 14% or 15% leaves no margin. Build it on a lower figure and treat any excess as a bonus.
• Ignoring inflation. A nominal crore is a useful milestone, but your real goal (a house, education, retirement) will cost more in future rupees.
• Forgetting tax. Long-term gains on equity funds above the yearly exemption are taxed when you redeem, so the amount you keep is a little less than the corpus.
• Stopping in a fall. Pausing a SIP when markets drop means buying fewer units at lower prices, which is when an SIP does its most useful work.
• Staying fully in equity to the end. In the last two or three years before you need the money, moving gradually to safer funds protects the corpus from a late fall.

1. Fix the year you need the money and decide whether the target is ₹1 crore in future rupees or in today's money.
2. Pick a conservative assumed return and read the starting SIP from the tables, or use the goal planner.
3. If the flat SIP is beyond your budget today, choose a step-up close to your expected salary growth, often 5% to 10% a year.
4. Register the SIP with a step-up or top-up option, or raise it manually each April, and date it soon after your salary credit.
5. Review once a year. If returns have run below your assumption, raise the SIP rather than the assumed return.