CAGR assumes one inflow and one outflow. XIRR handles any number of dated flows. For a single lumpsum both are identical; for SIPs only XIRR is correct.
XIRR Calculator
CAGR misleads when money goes in and out at different times. Add each investment (negative) and redemption or current value (positive) with its date to get the true annualised return — XIRR — of your SIPs, top-ups and withdrawals.
XIRR (annualised return)
15.50%
Total invested
₹1,20,000
Total value / received
₹1,40,000
Gain
₹20,000
Absolute return
16.67%
Point-to-point CAGR (misleading for SIPs)
8.00%
Cash flows (25)
| Date | Amount | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-01-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-02-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-03-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-04-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-05-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-06-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-07-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-08-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-09-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-10-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-11-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2023-12-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-01-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-02-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-03-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-04-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-05-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-06-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-07-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-08-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-09-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-10-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-11-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2024-12-05 | -₹5,000 | Investment |
| 2025-01-05 | ₹1,40,000 | Redemption / value |
- XIRR uses actual days between flows (365-day year), matching Excel's XIRR. To value an open investment, add today's date with the current value as a positive flow.
How the XIRR Calculator works
XIRR finds the single annual rate at which the present value of all your cash flows — each discounted from its own date — sums to zero. It is the correct way to measure return on SIPs, staggered lumpsums, dividends and partial withdrawals.
Point-to-point CAGR treats the total invested as if it was all invested on day one, so for a SIP it understates the true return badly; the average rupee in a 2-year SIP has been invested for only about a year.
The calculator uses Newton–Raphson with a bisection fallback, so it converges for negative and very high returns too.
Σ CFᵢ ÷ (1 + XIRR)^((dᵢ − d₀) / 365) = 0
- CFᵢ
- cash flow on date dᵢ (negative = investment)
- d₀
- first cash-flow date
Worked example
The default rows are a ₹5,000 monthly SIP for 24 months (₹1.2 lakh invested) redeemed for ₹1.4 lakh at the end. The absolute gain is 16.7% and the naive 2-year CAGR 8%, but because the average rupee was invested for only ~12.5 months the true XIRR is around 15.5%.