Inflation calculator — what today's ₹ will buy tomorrow.
The most underrated number in personal finance. A ₹1 crore retirement target in today's rupees becomes ₹3.2 crore in 20 years at 6% inflation — if you plan for ₹1 crore, you'll be ~70% short of what you meant. Runs the math both directions: today → future and future → today.
Inputs
India 20-year average CPI ~5.8%. Use 6% as a default. Healthcare + education inflate ~8-10%, essentials 4-5%.
Two ways to read this
Forward: "I need ₹17.91 L in year 10 to buy what ₹10.00 Lbuys today." Use this when planning a retirement corpus or a child's education fund — what you quote today in rupees needs to be inflated into the future.
Backward: "₹10.00 L in year 10 is equivalent to only ₹5.58 Lin today's purchasing power." Use this to deflate a future SIP corpus back to real terms so you know what you're actually buying.
India CPI history
- • 2004–2014 (UPA years): avg 8.3%
- • 2014–2024 (RBI 4% target era): avg 5.4%
- • 2024–FY26: 4.1–4.7% (Q4 FY26: 4.1%)
- • Food inflation runs ~6-7% · healthcare ~7-8% · education ~9-11%
Why 6% is the right India assumption
RBI has had a 4% ± 2% CPI target since 2016. Long-term realised CPI has averaged 5.4% in the 2014-2024 decade (post-target era) and ~8% in the 2004-2014 decade. 6% is a reasonable split-the-difference for 10-30 year planning.
If you're planning for something specific (kids' education → ~9%, healthcare → ~8%, essentials → ~4-5%), use the category-specific number from the CPI sub-index.
The real-return trap
Nominal return minus inflation = real return. An FD at 7.1% with 6% inflation gives you a REAL return of just 1.1%. Equity at 12% long-term with 6% inflation gives 6% real — substantial. This is why retirement planners insist on equity exposure despite the volatility: over 25+ years, fixed income barely keeps pace with inflation.
Plan around inflation
Research tool · not investment advice.
Axel Markets is an information + analytics product. We are not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst (RA) or Investment Adviser (IA). Nothing on this page is a buy, sell, or hold recommendation. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Verify all data against the authoritative source (NSE, BSE, AMFI, SEBI, company RHP / factsheet) before acting. Inflation estimates are historical averages — actual future inflation may vary. The RBI CPI basket changes every ~10 years; calculator assumptions will shift accordingly.