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India: a large nominal return is not a large real one

EPF and NPS provide part of retirement income and are not modelled here. Both are already retirement saving, so count them once: either fold your contributions to them into the contribution figure on this page, or leave them out entirely and treat their eventual value as reducing the income target. Doing both double-counts, and doing neither understates what you are actually putting away.

The Indian assumptions are a 9% nominal return and 5% inflation, and the pair matters far more than either figure alone. Nine percent looks like a much better outcome than the 6.5% assumed for the euro-area countries, but after inflation it is 3.81% a year, (1.09 ÷ 1.05) − 1, which is slightly worse. A high-inflation currency pays a high nominal return partly just to stand still.

This is the country where reading the today's-money column rather than the headline balance matters most. Over 30 years, 5% inflation divides a balance by 4.32: a projected ₹5 crore is a little over ₹1.15 crore at today's prices. Judge the plan on the lower line.

The retirement age opens at 60, the usual superannuation age in public employment and the age most pension schemes use.

For how the calculation works, the formula behind it and what it leaves out, see the full guide.

Data sources

  • Indian consumer finance conventions

    Effective 2022-07-01 onward · retrieved 2026-08-30

    Road tax rates and the retirement age both vary by state and by employer.

    How we checked these figures

    The Reserve Bank requires issuers to disclose the annualised rate but sets no ceiling on it.

    Current

This calculator in other countries

Each country has its own rates, thresholds and rules, and its own page with the official sources they came from.

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