SWP Calculator – Systematic Withdrawal Plan
IndiaTake a fixed amount out of a mutual fund every month and see what is left after each withdrawal, how long the money lasts, the most you can take without touching your capital, and how much of it goes in tax on an equity or a debt fund.
By Ramanathan · Tax rules last verified: October 10, 2026
- No Data Stored
- 100% Free Forever
- Tax by Holding Period
Still building the corpus? Use the SIP calculator.
This calculator needs JavaScript. Here is a worked example; enable JavaScript and reload to use your own figures.
Example
₹25,00,000 at 10% a year, withdrawing ₹20,000 a month for 20 years: you take out ₹48,00,000 and ₹31,32,807 is still in the fund. In an equity fund the tax over the 20 years is ₹84,143.
Year-by-year balance
| Year | Opening balance | Withdrawn | Growth | Closing balance | Tax |
|---|
Estimate only. Real returns move from year to year, and a fall in the early years shortens how long the money lasts. Tax treats each plan year as a financial year and assumes the SWP is your only source of such gains; surcharge and exit loads are ignored.
QUICK REFERENCE
How much ₹10 lakh can pay you each month
The monthly withdrawal that runs ₹10,00,000 down to zero over each period, and, in the last column, the most you can take while the original ₹10 lakh stays intact. Take more than the last column and you are spending capital; take less and the fund keeps growing.
| Return | 10 years | 15 years | 20 years | 25 years | 30 years | Capital intact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6% | ₹11,102 | ₹8,439 | ₹7,164 | ₹6,443 | ₹5,996 | ₹5,000 |
| 8% | ₹12,133 | ₹9,557 | ₹8,364 | ₹7,718 | ₹7,338 | ₹6,667 |
| 10% | ₹13,215 | ₹10,746 | ₹9,650 | ₹9,087 | ₹8,776 | ₹8,333 |
| 12% | ₹14,347 | ₹12,002 | ₹11,011 | ₹10,532 | ₹10,286 | ₹10,000 |
Before tax, flat withdrawals, rounded to the rupee. The amounts scale with the investment: ₹50 lakh pays five times each figure.
HOW IT WORKS
How a systematic withdrawal plan works
A systematic withdrawal plan (SWP) is the reverse of a SIP. You invest a sum in a mutual fund once, and the fund sells enough units every month to pay you a fixed amount. The rest stays invested and keeps earning. Two things move the balance each month: the return adds to it and your withdrawal takes from it. The calculator applies the return monthly, as the site's SIP calculator does, and takes each withdrawal at the end of the month:
The formula we use
Balance = P × (1 + i)n − W × ((1 + i)n − 1) ÷ i
Where: P = Investment | W = Monthly withdrawal | i = Yearly return ÷ 12 | n = Months
With a yearly increase in the withdrawal, the calculator works month by month instead of using the closed form.
On the default example, ₹25,00,000 at 10% paying ₹20,000 a month, the first year's return is ₹2,50,471 against ₹2,40,000 withdrawn, so the balance edges up to ₹25,10,471. Over 20 years you take out ₹48,00,000 and ₹31,32,807 is still in the fund.
How long will your money last?
The answer turns on one comparison: the withdrawal against the return the balance earns. Below the return, the money never runs out; above it, every month eats a little more capital, and the gap widens as the balance shrinks. From ₹10,00,000:
| Monthly withdrawal | At 6% | At 8% | At 10% |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹6,000 | 30 years | Does not run out | Does not run out |
| ₹8,000 | 16 years 5 months | 22 years 6 months | Does not run out |
| ₹10,000 | 11 years 7 months | 13 years 10 months | 18 years |
| ₹12,000 | 9 years 1 month | 10 years 3 months | 11 years 11 months |
| ₹15,000 | 6 years 10 months | 7 years 5 months | 8 years 2 months |
Before tax, flat withdrawals. “Does not run out” means the withdrawal is no more than the return.
The two numbers that matter
The calculator shows two reference withdrawals for your investment. The first is the return only: investment × yearly return ÷ 12, ₹20,833 a month on ₹25 lakh at 10%. Take that and the original sum never falls, so it is still there for your heirs or a later need. The second is the amount that runs the fund to zero exactly at the end of your period, ₹24,126 a month over 20 years. That spends everything, which is fine if the period covers the whole of the need and nothing else. Anything between the two spends some capital but not all of it.
How SWP is taxed
Each withdrawal is a sale of fund units, and only the gain in those units is taxed. The part that returns your own money is not. Early on, almost every rupee you receive is your own money coming back. The gain share grows as the units that remain have appreciated more.
- Equity funds (65% or more in shares): gains on units held more than 12 months are long-term and taxed at 12.5% only above ₹1.25 lakh a financial year; units held 12 months or less pay 20%. Cess of 4% applies on top.
- Debt funds (more than 65% in debt and money-market instruments) bought on or after 1 April 2023: every gain is taxed at your slab rate, however long you hold, with no indexation.
On the default example, the equity fund pays ₹84,143 of tax over 20 years: ₹2,602 in the first year, when every withdrawal is short-term, then nothing until year 8, when the year's long-term gain (₹1,26,704) first tops ₹1.25 lakh. A debt fund paying the same ₹20,000 at the 30% slab pays ₹8,50,982. The calculator treats each plan year as a financial year and assumes the SWP is your only source of such gains, since the ₹1.25 lakh exemption is shared with any shares or other equity funds you sell in the year.
SWP or FD for monthly income?
₹25,00,000 earning 7% pays ₹14,583 a month from either a monthly-payout fixed deposit or a debt fund SWP. The FD's interest is all taxable, every year: ₹10,92,000 over 20 years at the 30% slab. The debt fund SWP pays only ₹5,05,130 over those 20 years, because only the gain in each sale is taxed. That looks like a saving but is mostly a delay: ₹18,80,995 of gain is still in the fund, and the tax on it when you sell brings the total to the same ₹10,92,000. An equity fund SWP is different, because the yearly exemption genuinely removes tax, but its return is not guaranteed. The SWP vs FD guide works through all three.
Raising the withdrawal with inflation
A fixed ₹20,000 buys less every year. Raising it by 5% a year (under Advanced options) keeps its buying power roughly level, but changes the result completely: the same ₹25 lakh at 10% now runs out after 15 years 6 months. To last the full 20 years with a 5% yearly rise, the first-year withdrawal has to start at ₹17,064 a month.
What the calculator assumes
It uses one steady return. Real funds rise and fall, and the order matters: a fall in the first few years forces each withdrawal to sell more units at low prices, and those units are not there for the recovery. Retirees often keep two to three years of withdrawals in a liquid or short-term debt fund for that reason and draw the equity part down more slowly. Exit loads on early withdrawals, surcharge and changes in tax rules are ignored. Treat the result as a plan to revisit every year, not a promise.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
SWP calculator — frequently asked questions
It grows the money left in the fund at your expected return every month and takes your withdrawal out at the end of the month. The balance after n months is P × (1 + i)^n − W × ((1 + i)^n − 1) ÷ i, where P is the investment, W the monthly withdrawal and i the monthly return. ₹25,00,000 at 10% paying ₹20,000 a month for 20 years pays out ₹48,00,000 and still leaves ₹31,32,807, because the return (about ₹20,833 a month at the start) is more than the withdrawal.
It depends on the withdrawal against the return. From ₹10,00,000 at 8% a year, ₹8,000 a month lasts 22 years 6 months, ₹10,000 lasts 13 years 10 months and ₹15,000 lasts 7 years 5 months. Withdraw no more than the return (₹6,667 a month at 8%) and the money does not run out, as long as the return holds.
At an 8% return, ₹66,667 a month is the return alone, so the ₹1 crore stays intact; ₹73,376 a month runs it down to zero over 30 years and ₹83,644 over 20 years. At 10%, the figures are ₹83,333 (capital intact), ₹87,757 (30 years) and ₹96,502 (20 years). ₹1,00,000 a month lasts 13 years 10 months at 8% and 18 years at 10%.
Only the gain in each withdrawal is taxed; the part that returns your own money is not. Equity funds: gains on units held more than 12 months are taxed at 12.5% above ₹1.25 lakh a financial year, and gains on units held 12 months or less at 20%, plus 4% cess. Debt funds (more than 65% in debt, units bought on or after 1 April 2023): every gain is taxed at your slab rate. On ₹25,00,000 paying ₹20,000 a month for 20 years at 10%, the equity fund pays ₹84,143 of tax in all and a debt fund at the 30% slab ₹8,50,982.
From a debt fund it defers tax rather than reducing it. ₹25,00,000 earning 7% pays ₹14,583 a month either way. An FD's interest is taxed every year: ₹10,92,000 over 20 years at the 30% slab. A debt fund SWP of the same amount pays ₹5,05,130 over those 20 years, but leaves ₹18,80,995 of gain inside the fund, taxed when you sell; in total it is the same ₹10,92,000. An equity fund SWP can pay much less, because ₹1.25 lakh of long-term gain is exempt every year, but its return is not guaranteed.
Taking no more than the fund's return keeps the original investment intact: the corpus × the yearly return ÷ 12. Taking exactly the amount that runs it to zero at the end of your horizon spends it in full. Real returns vary from year to year, and a fall in the early years hurts most, because withdrawals then sell more units, so leave a margin below both figures. The calculator shows the two for your numbers.
KEEP EXPLORING
Related calculators
Other tools that pair with this one.
FURTHER READING
Related guides
Read the reasoning behind the numbers.