NRIWallah team
Updated
September 2026
· 3 min read
Ordinary SIP calculators assume you earn, invest and retire in rupees: ₹25,000 a month at 12% for twenty years comes to roughly ₹2.5 crore. For an NRI that is half the answer, because the money going in probably started as pounds, dollars or dirhams, and the money coming out may need to be spent in the same currency.
This calculator invests the same money in an Indian mutual fund and in a fund where you live, and reports each result in its own currency and then in one currency, after capital gains tax and after twenty years of movement in the rupee.
Why 12% can be worth 8.7%
A rupee return has to survive the rupee. Over the long run the rupee has fallen against major currencies by roughly 3% a year, and measured in your own currency that comes straight off the return. A 12% Indian fund becomes about 8.7% in pounds or dollars: still ahead of a 7% fund abroad, but by about 1.7 percentage points, not five. At 5% a year of depreciation, the same fund returns about 6.7% in your terms and falls behind.
That is why the depreciation rate is an input you control. The question is not which fund returns more, but whether India’s advantage survives the currency.
Eligibility and tax can decide it first
Several Indian fund houses do not accept US and Canadian residents, so check the AMC eligibility checker before planning. At home, US persons face PFIC rules that can erase any return advantage, and UK investors should check that a fund has reporting status, or gains may be taxed as income rather than capital gains. A UK ISA, a US 401(k), or living tax-free in Singapore or the Gulf can make the local option much stronger after tax.
How to use it
Enter what you can invest each month, or a lump sum, and a realistic horizon. Use returns net of fund charges on both sides, and the tax rate that applies to you; in a sheltered account abroad that may be zero. Then move the depreciation rate between 0%, 3% and 5%. If the Indian fund wins across that range, currency is not your main risk. If the answer flips, the decision is mainly about currency.
The FD calculator applies the same approach to deposits, and the home loan calculator to borrowing. To work out what the savings need to cover, the retire in India planner starts from a monthly spend, and the degree cost planner prices a child’s education.
NRIWallah does not provide investment or tax advice. The calculator assumes steady returns and a steady currency trend, which real markets do not deliver, and past performance does not predict future results. Confirm eligibility, tax and fund charges with a qualified cross-border adviser before investing.
