Inflation Calculator
See what today's cost will grow to after a number of years at a given inflation rate — and how much smaller your money's buying power becomes along the way.
| Years from now | Future cost | Today's money is worth |
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Illustrative only, and assumes a constant inflation rate every year, which real life never quite delivers. Use this to get a feel for the scale of the problem, not as a precise forecast — a full plan builds in a range of scenarios rather than one fixed rate.
Inflation quietly erodes what your money can buy, year after year — a monthly cost of ₹50,000 today won't buy the same basket of goods in 15 or 20 years. Seeing the actual future number, not just the abstract idea of "prices go up," makes it far easier to plan for goals like retirement, a child's education, or any expense that's still years away.
Enter today's cost, an expected inflation rate, and a number of years, and this calculator shows what that cost grows to at 5-year milestones, along with how much a rupee today will be worth in the future in real purchasing-power terms.
Frequently asked questions
What inflation rate should I use for planning?
There's no single correct number — headline CPI inflation in India has typically run in the mid-single digits over the long run, but categories like education and healthcare have often risen faster than general inflation. Many planners use a somewhat higher rate for goals concentrated in those categories, and a more moderate rate for general expenses.
Why does the calculator show '₹1 today will be worth' a smaller amount?
That figure shows purchasing power, not a fall in the rupee's face value — ₹1 will still be ₹1, but at your assumed inflation rate, it will buy less than it does today. It's the flip side of the same calculation as future cost.
Is inflation the same for every kind of expense?
No — different categories inflate at different rates. Everyday household expenses, education, healthcare, and travel have historically moved at different pace from each other and from the general CPI figure, so a single blended rate is always a simplification.
How is this different from the real return figure I see on other calculators?
Real return measures what's left of your investment growth after subtracting inflation. This calculator instead projects a specific expense forward in time, so you can see the actual future rupee figure you're likely to need — the two are related but answer different questions.
Should I use this for a goal that's decades away, like retirement?
Yes, this is exactly the kind of goal where seeing the inflated future number matters most, since small differences in the assumed rate compound significantly over 20-30 years. For a full retirement corpus estimate rather than a single expense, the Retirement Corpus Calculator carries this same logic further.
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