CAGR Calculator

CAGR (compound annual growth rate) is the constant yearly rate that would grow a starting value into an ending value over a number of years, as if it compounded smoothly each year. The formula is CAGR = ((ending value ÷ beginning value)^(1 ÷ years) − 1) × 100. For example, ₹10,000 growing to ₹25,000 over 5 years is (2.5^(1/5) − 1) × 100 ≈ 20.11% a year.

Absolute return is the whole-period gain as a percentage — ₹10,000 to ₹25,000 is a 150% total return regardless of how long it took. CAGR converts that into a per-year rate, so the same 150% gain is about 20.11% a year over 5 years but about 9.86% a year over 10 years. Use CAGR to compare investments held for different lengths of time; use absolute return for the headline “how much did it grow in total”.

No. A simple average annual return just adds up the yearly returns and divides by the number of years, which overstates growth because it ignores compounding and the order of gains and losses. CAGR is a geometric (compounded) average, so it reflects what you actually ended up with. A portfolio that gains 50% then loses 50% has a 0% simple average but a negative CAGR — and the negative figure is the truthful one.

CAGR measures growth between a single starting value and a single ending value, with no money added or taken out in between. IRR (internal rate of return) handles multiple, irregularly timed cash flows — contributions, withdrawals, dividends — and finds the rate that makes them all balance. If you invested once and checked the value years later, use CAGR; if you added or withdrew money along the way, use IRR or XIRR instead.

Yes. If the ending value is lower than the beginning value, the investment declined and CAGR is negative — this calculator reports it as a negative percentage rather than clamping it to zero. For example ₹50,000 falling to ₹30,000 over 4 years is a CAGR of about −11.99% a year. At an ending value of 0 (a total loss), CAGR is exactly −100%.

The growth multiple is ending value ÷ beginning value — how many times the value grew in total. A 1.0× result is breakeven, 2.5× means it grew two-and-a-half times, and 0.6× means it shrank to 60% of the starting value. It is just another reading of the same result: growth multiple = 1 + absolute return ÷ 100.

Yes. Enter the period as a decimal — 2.5 for two and a half years, or 0.5 for six months. The formula applies the fractional exponent (1 ÷ years) directly, exactly the way professional calculators handle part-year periods. For ₹1,000 growing to ₹1,500 over 2.5 years the CAGR is about 17.61% a year.

CAGR smooths everything into one constant rate, so it hides volatility — two investments with the same CAGR can have wildly different ups and downs. It also ignores any money added or withdrawn during the period, and it is very sensitive to the start and end points you pick: a well-chosen start date can make growth look much better than it really was. Treat CAGR as a clean comparison number, not the whole story.

CAGR divides the ending value by the beginning value, so a beginning value of zero would divide by zero. A negative beginning value is worse still — raising a negative number to a fractional power gives a non-real (complex) result. The calculator therefore requires a beginning value of at least 0.01, which keeps the math defined for every input.

The same equation rearranges two ways. To find the ending value a rate would reach: ending value = beginning value × (1 + CAGR)^years. To find how long it takes to hit a target: years = ln(ending ÷ beginning) ÷ ln(1 + CAGR). For instance, to grow ₹10,000 at 12% a year for 8 years, the ending value is 10,000 × 1.12^8 ≈ ₹24,760.

No. It computes a gross, nominal growth rate from the two values you enter. To get a real (inflation-adjusted) or after-tax figure, adjust the ending value (or beginning value) for those costs before entering them — for example subtract estimated tax and fees from the ending value, then compute CAGR on the net numbers.

Yes. CAGR is a pure ratio of ending value to beginning value, so the percentage is identical no matter the currency, as long as both values use the same one. Use the currency selector to display the beginning value, ending value and total gain in ₹, $, €, £ or ¥ — it changes the labels, not the result.

CAGR is the right measure when you invest a single lump sum once and want to know the annualised growth rate between that starting point and a later ending value — one in, one out, no other cash flows. XIRR (extended internal rate of return) is designed for multiple cash flows at irregular dates: every SIP instalment, every top-up, every partial withdrawal, each with its own date. A mutual fund quoting a "3-year CAGR of 16%" is describing how its NAV has grown from a fixed start — useful for comparing funds to each other or to an index. Your personal return on an SIP in that same fund is lower (say 13%) because your later instalments had less time to compound — and that figure is correctly called XIRR, not CAGR. Rule of thumb: use CAGR to evaluate a fund; use XIRR to evaluate your own investing experience in it.

In mutual fund factsheets, CAGR means the annualised growth rate of the fund's NAV (net asset value) between two fixed dates — for example, from the scheme launch NAV to today's NAV, or from the NAV exactly 3 / 5 / 10 years ago to today's NAV. It is always a lump-sum point-to-point measure. If you have been investing via monthly SIP, your personal return is not the fund's advertised CAGR — it is the XIRR of your specific cash flows, because each instalment went in at a different NAV and has compounded for a different length of time. Enter your lump-sum investment details here to compute CAGR; for an SIP portfolio, use an XIRR calculator instead.

Three equivalent formulas work in Excel. If beginning value is in cell A1, ending value in A2, and number of years in A3: (1) Direct formula — =(A2/A1)^(1/A3)-1, then format the cell as a percentage. (2) POWER function — =POWER(A2/A1,1/A3)-1, which is just the caret operator written as a named function. (3) RRI function — =RRI(A3,A1,A2), which is the most concise and returns the rate directly: nper is the number of periods, pv is the present (beginning) value, fv is the future (ending) value. All three return a decimal (e.g. 0.2011); multiply by 100 or format as percentage to get 20.11%. The RRI function is purpose-built for CAGR and is the cleanest option when your data is already in cells.

"Good" depends on the asset class and the time horizon — a 7% CAGR is excellent for a government-backed savings scheme but underwhelming for a high-risk equity fund held for 15 years. As a rough historical reference for Indian markets: the Nifty 50 Total Return Index has delivered approximately 11–14% CAGR over 20-year rolling periods; domestic gold has averaged around 10–14% over 20 years; bank FDs have typically returned 6–7%; and PPF has been in the 7–8% range (rate revised periodically by the government). The key benchmark is whether the CAGR beats your personal hurdle rate — inflation plus a premium for the risk you took. These figures are historical averages, not a guarantee or forecast of future returns.