What is a inflation Calculator?
Inflation quietly erodes purchasing power every year — the same ₹1 lakh buys less a decade from now than it does today, even sitting untouched. This is the single biggest reason "safe" returns that merely match inflation still represent zero real growth, and why retirement and goal planning always needs to account for it explicitly.
Choose whether you want to project an amount forward (what will this be worth in the future) or backward (what was this amount worth some years ago), enter the inflation rate, and the time period.
How the adjustment is calculated
This is the same compounding formula behind investment growth, just applied to the erosion (or historical build-up) of purchasing power instead of an investment balance.
Frequently asked questions
What inflation rate should I use?
India’s long-run retail (CPI) inflation has broadly averaged around 5–6% over the past decade, though it varies year to year. For personal expense planning, some people use a slightly higher rate to be conservative, since categories like education and healthcare have historically run above the headline number.
How is this different from the Retirement Calculator?
This tool does one isolated inflation calculation on a single amount. The Retirement Calculator uses the same underlying maths as one part of a fuller retirement corpus projection.
Does a bank FD really "lose" money if the rate is below inflation?
In real (purchasing-power) terms, yes — if your FD earns 7% and inflation runs at 6%, your money grows by only about 1% in real terms, and after tax on the FD interest, the real return can turn negative.