Calculate future cost of goods accounting for inflation rate
| Year | Inflation | Start of year | Price rise | End of year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yr 1 | 4.5% | ₹1,00,000 | ₹4,500 | ₹1,04,500 |
| Yr 2 | 4.5% | ₹1,04,500 | ₹4,703 | ₹1,09,203 |
| Yr 3 | 4.5% | ₹1,09,203 | ₹4,914 | ₹1,14,117 |
| Yr 4 | 4.5% | ₹1,14,117 | ₹5,135 | ₹1,19,252 |
| Yr 5 | 4.5% | ₹1,19,252 | ₹5,366 | ₹1,24,618 |
| Yr 6 | 4.5% | ₹1,24,618 | ₹5,608 | ₹1,30,226 |
| Yr 7 | 4.5% | ₹1,30,226 | ₹5,860 | ₹1,36,086 |
| Yr 8 | 4.5% | ₹1,36,086 | ₹6,124 | ₹1,42,210 |
| Yr 9 | 4.5% | ₹1,42,210 | ₹6,399 | ₹1,48,610 |
| Yr 10 | 4.5% | ₹1,48,610 | ₹6,687 | ₹1,55,297 |
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Results are estimates, not financial advice. Rates, charges and rules change, so confirm with your bank, post office or a financial adviser before you decide. Terms of use
How to Use
- Choose Future cost to see what something will cost later, or Past money today to see what an old amount is worth now using India's actual yearly inflation.
- For a future cost, enter today's Amount, the Expected inflation (the latest full-year figure and the 10-year average are shown under the box) and the Number of years.
- For past money, enter the Amount in the past year and pick the From year and To year (anything from 1960 onwards).
- The result updates as you type: the new cost, the rise in price, how much buying power cash loses, a chart and a year-wise table.
- Use pdf for a printable report, CSV or Excel under the table to download the yearly figures, or share to send a link with your inputs.
Why inflation matters for your money
Inflation is how fast prices rise. If inflation is 6% and your savings account pays 4%, you're losing about 2% of your buying power every year. Keep ₹1 lakh in a cupboard for 5 years at 6% inflation, and it will buy only what about ₹74,700 buys today. This inflation calculator works it out with future cost = today's cost × (1 + rate)years, or with India's actual yearly rates for past years.
India's inflation history
| Period | Avg CPI Inflation |
|---|---|
| 2015–2019 | about 4.1% p.a. |
| 2020–2022 | about 6.1% p.a. |
| 2023–2024 | about 5% p.a. |
| 2025 | about 2.2% (an unusually low year) |
Calendar-year averages of the all-India CPI (Combined) published by MoSPI.
Planning for real goals
- Child's education: a course that costs ₹10 lakh today will cost about ₹18 lakh in 10 years at 6% inflation.
- Retirement: monthly expenses of ₹50,000 today become about ₹1.3 lakh a month in 20 years at 5% inflation.
- Medical costs: healthcare inflation in India runs at 8–10%, so plan on the cautious side.
How to beat inflation
Your investments have to earn more than inflation. What's left over is your real return. FDs pay roughly 6% to 7%, only just ahead of 6% inflation. Equity mutual funds have historically returned 12–15% a year, a real return of 6–9%. That's why long-term goals need some money in equity.