What a SIP Calculator Actually Does (and What It Can't Do)

A Systematic Investment Plan is a standing commitment: you put a fixed amount into an open-ended mutual fund on a fixed schedule, and the fund manager buys units for you at that day's NAV. A SIP calculator is the arithmetic that turns "Rs 5,000 a month" into "roughly this much in fifteen years."

Here's the part most Nepali calculator pages skip. A SIP calculator does not predict returns. It answers a conditional question: if the fund averages X% a year, here is what compounding produces. The "if" is doing all the work. NAV moves with NEPSE, dividends are declared annually and vary, and nothing about mutual fund performance is contractual. Every serious fund manager in Nepal attaches the same warning to their tool, and it's worth reading rather than scrolling past.

What the calculator is genuinely good for:

• Sizing the commitment. You find out fast whether Rs 2,000 a month can realistically fund a Rs 50 lakh goal, or whether you need Rs 12,000.
• Seeing the shape of compounding. The year-by-year table above is the real lesson: years 1–7 look boring, years 12–20 do almost all the heavy lifting.
• Comparing trade-offs. Five more years versus a 2% higher return versus a 10% annual step-up — the calculator tells you which lever actually matters. (Spoiler: it's usually time, then step-up, then return.)
• Reality-checking a sales pitch. If somebody shows you a projection, plug the same inputs in here. If the numbers don't match, ask why.

How to Use This SIP Calculator Nepal — Step by Step

1. Pick a mode. Four tabs: SIP Return (I invest X, what do I get?), Goal Planner (I want Rs Y, what must I invest?), Lumpsum + SIP (I already hold units and I'm adding monthly), and Withdrawal (SWP) (I've built a corpus, how long will it last?).
2. Enter your instalment. Type it or drag the slider. The minimum practical SIP in Nepal is Rs 1,000, because the minimum purchase is 100 units at Rs 10 par value.
3. Choose the cycle. Monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual. Nepali schemes support all four, and the calculator compounds accordingly — a quarterly SIP of Rs 3,000 is not the same as Rs 1,000 monthly.
4. Set an expected return. Be honest here. See the rate section below before you slide it to 20%.
5. Set the duration. Drag it to 20 years, then back to 10, and watch the returns column. That gap is the entire argument for starting early.
6. Open "Advanced." This is where this tool leaves the bank calculators behind: annual step-up, inflation adjustment, fund expense drag, exit load, and the 5% short-term capital gains toggle.
7. Read the fourth number. Most calculators show three boxes. The strip underneath gives you real (inflation-adjusted) value, gain multiple, effective net return and final-year growth. Real value is the number that tells you what your corpus will actually buy.

SIP Return Calculator: The Formula Behind the Numbers

Nepali fund houses publish the same standard future-value-of-an-annuity formula, and this calculator implements it identically so your numbers reconcile:

A worked example you can verify

Rs 5,000 monthly, 15% expected annual return, 10 years.

• i = 15 ÷ 100 ÷ 12 = 0.0125
• n = 10 × 12 = 120
• (1.0125)¹²⁰ = 4.4402
• FV = 5,000 × [(4.4402 − 1) ÷ 0.0125] × 1.0125 = Rs 13,93,286
• Total invested: Rs 6,00,000 · Total gain: Rs 7,93,286

Run those exact inputs through the calculator above and you'll land on the same figure — and on the same figure Siddhartha Capital's calculator produces. That's deliberate. A calculator that disagrees with the fund manager's own tool is a calculator nobody can trust.

The detail that trips up half the SIP calculators online

Notice the trailing × (1 + i). That term exists because a SIP instalment is paid at the start of the period, not the end — your Shrawan payment earns a full month of growth before the Bhadra payment arrives. In finance this is an annuity-due; the version without that term is an ordinary annuity.

Over 20 years at 12%, the difference between the two conventions is roughly 1% of your final corpus. On a Rs 50 lakh outcome that's Rs 50,000 — not fatal, but enough that two calculators showing different numbers for identical inputs will make you doubt both. This one uses annuity-due, period by period, which is why the year-by-year table reconciles exactly with the annual-mode tables published by Nabil Invest and NIMB Ace Capital.

SIP Goal Calculator: Work Backwards From What You Actually Want

Most people don't start with "I have Rs 5,000 spare." They start with "I need Rs 40 lakh for a flat in Bhaktapur in twelve years" or "my daughter starts an engineering degree in 2038." Forward-only calculators make you guess an instalment, look at the result, adjust, and repeat.

The SIP Goal Calculator tab inverts it. Enter the target and the horizon; it solves for the instalment. Internally it runs a binary search across the same period-by-period engine, so step-up and expense drag are respected — an algebraic rearrangement of the formula can't handle a rising contribution, which is exactly why most goal calculators quietly disable step-up.

Realistic Nepali goals and what they cost

At a 12% assumed annual return, no step-up:

Look at the last two rows together. A Rs 1 crore retirement goal over 25 years costs less per month than a Rs 40 lakh goal over 12 years. That isn't a typo — it's compounding, and it is the single strongest argument for starting a SIP in your twenties rather than your thirties. If you're thinking about where a SIP fits alongside other options, our overview of investment opportunities in Nepal puts the choices side by side.

Step-Up SIP: The Feature Almost No Nepali Calculator Has

A step-up SIP (also called a top-up SIP) raises your instalment by a set percentage every year. If your salary rises roughly 10% annually — which is not an unusual trajectory in Kathmandu's private sector — a flat Rs 5,000 SIP becomes a progressively smaller share of your income each year. Step-up keeps the commitment proportional.

Here's the arithmetic over 20 years at 12%, starting from Rs 5,000 a month:

Two honest observations about that table, which promotional content tends to omit:

• Step-up roughly doubles the outcome — Rs 49.96 lakh to Rs 99.44 lakh at a 10% step-up. That is a genuinely large effect.
• The gain multiple falls. 4.2× down to 2.9×. Money you contribute in year 18 only compounds for two years, so later rupees work less hard. Step-up wins because you invest more, not because it's magically more efficient. Anyone selling it as free money is misleading you.

Practically: Nepali fund portals don't currently automate a step-up. You raise it manually — either by editing your SIP registration or registering a second small SIP alongside the first. Put a calendar reminder for the month after your annual appraisal. That single recurring task is worth more than any fund-picking you will ever do.

What Return Rate Should You Actually Enter? A Nepal Reality Check

This is the question every SIP calculator makes you answer and none of them help with. The default is usually 12%, inherited from Indian calculators, and it gets treated as a promise.

Let's anchor it to Nepali numbers instead.

The risk-free floor

Fixed deposit rates at most Nepali commercial banks currently run roughly 2.8% to 5.8% per annum for individual customers, with short-term FDs of three to six months around 2.8–3.3%, one-to-two-year deposits near 3.5–4.5%, and longer five-year-plus deposits reaching 5.8% or more at some banks. The system-wide average deposit rate sits at about 3.51%, against average lending of 7.00%, with the NRB policy repo at 4.25% and the bank rate at 5.75%.

So a genuinely safe, government-supervised return in Nepal today is roughly 3–5%. Anything above that is compensation for accepting risk.

The inflation hurdle

Nepal's inflation has been running near 3.25% alongside GDP growth of about 3.99%. That means a 3.5% FD is barely breaking even in real terms. This is precisely why the calculator above has an inflation field — and why you should look at the "Real value" figure, not just the headline corpus.

The equity reality

NEPSE has traded around the 2,950 level with a market capitalisation near NPR 4.43 trillion. Nepali equity mutual funds draw their returns from this market, which means two things: the long-run upside is meaningfully higher than an FD, and the ride is genuinely volatile. NEPSE has delivered multi-year stretches of both spectacular gains and grinding declines.

Current NAVs across the open-ended SIP schemes sit close to par. As of mid-September 2026: NIBL Sahabhagita Fund at 9.95, Siddhartha's SSIS at 10.79 and SEF at 10.35, and Nabil's NFCF at 10.26 with NI 31 at 10.39. Dividends are separate: Nabil Flexi Cap Fund paid a 5% cash dividend in FY 2080/81 and 9% in FY 2081/82, while NIBL Sahabhagita's dividend history shows 8.25% in FY 2076/77, 50% in FY 2077/78, 7.2% in FY 2078/79 and 4% in FY 2079/80.

Read that NIBL sequence carefully, because it is the most useful row of data on this page. A 50% year followed by a 4% year is what "average returns" actually looks like from the inside. No SIP calculator on earth can produce that path — it can only average it.

My recommended way to use the return slider

If a goal only works at 18%, it isn't a plan — it's a bet. Extend the horizon or raise the instalment instead.

Open-Ended SIP Schemes in Nepal (2026): Who Runs What

Before the calculator means anything, you need somewhere to actually put the money. SIP in Nepal runs through open-ended mutual funds operated by bank-affiliated capital companies. The main pairings are: Nabil Investment Banking (Nabil Bank) running NI 31 and Nabil Flexi Cap Fund; NIMB Ace Capital (Nepal Investment Mega Bank) running NIBL Sahabhagita Fund; NMB Capital (NMB Bank) running NMB Saral Bachat Fund–E; and NIC Asia Capital (NIC Asia Bank) running NIC Asia Dynamic Debt Fund and NIC Asia ELIS. Siddhartha Capital runs SSIS, and Laxmi Capital runs Subha Laxmi Kosh.

Nabil SIP Calculator

Nabil Invest's own Nabil SIP Calculator takes four inputs — investment period, instalment, expected annual return and years — and returns a period-by-period table of SIP amount, returns and balance. It is accurate and it publishes its formula, which is more than most.

Its limits: no step-up, no inflation adjustment, no goal mode, no tax, no chart, and a table that gets unwieldy past ten years. It defaults the amount field to "Annually," which catches people out — if you're planning a monthly SIP into NI 31 or Nabil Flexi Cap Fund, switch the dropdown first or your projection will be twelve times too small. The calculator above defaults to monthly and relabels the input as you change the cycle, precisely to avoid that error.

NIMB SIP Calculator / NIBL SIP Calculator

These are the same tool. Nepal Investment Bank merged into Nepal Investment Mega Bank, so "NIBL SIP" and "NIMB SIP" point to the same capital team and the same process — your BOID does not change because the brand name above the portal changed. The fund is NIBL Sahabhagita Fund, managed by NIMB Ace Capital.

The NIMB SIP Calculator (and therefore the NIBL SIP Calculator) mirrors the Nabil layout: investment period, annual investment, expected annual return, years. Same strengths, same gaps. If you searched for one name and landed on the other, you're in the right place — one fund, one portal, two brand names.

NMB SIP Calculator

NMB Capital's SIP runs into NMB Saral Bachat Fund–E, an equity-oriented open-ended scheme. Searches for the NMB SIP Calculator are usually really searches for the payment or login portal — a recurring pattern across all these brands, where people want the instalment page and end up on a calculator. Use the tool above for the projection; go to NMB Capital's own portal to register and pay.

SIP Return Calculator vs SIP Goal Calculator

Worth separating clearly, because people search both phrases meaning different things:

• A SIP Return Calculator runs forwards. Known instalment → unknown corpus. "I can afford Rs 5,000 a month, what will I have?" That's the first tab above.
• A SIP Goal Calculator runs backwards. Known target → unknown instalment. "I need Rs 40 lakh in twelve years, what must I pay?" That's the second tab.

Every Nepali bank calculator I checked offers only the first. If you have a specific target — and most people do — the second is the one you actually need.

What Nepal's Existing SIP Calculators Leave Out

I worked through the three most-visited SIP calculator pages in Nepal before building this one. Here is an honest comparison, including where they're better than me.

To be fair to them: a fund manager's calculator exists to get you to the enrolment button, and it does that job. Siddhartha's page in particular is clean and fast. But two of the three pages carry essentially no explanatory content beyond a disclaimer — no guidance on rates, no tax treatment, no discussion of what the output means. That's the gap this page is built to fill.

Tax, Exit Load and the Charges Nobody Models

Your calculator output is a gross number. Several things stand between it and your bank account.

Capital gains tax

Under the Finance Act 2026, short-term capital gains on a holding period under 365 days are taxed at 5% for resident individuals, while long-term gains are exempt for individuals. Dividends distributed by mutual funds are subject to a distribution tax deducted at source as prescribed by current legislation.

For a SIP this creates a wrinkle worth understanding: each instalment is a separate purchase with its own holding clock. If you redeem everything in month 30, the units bought in months 19–30 are short-term and taxable at 5%; the earlier ones aren't. The tax checkbox in the calculator applies 5% to the whole gain — a deliberately conservative worst case. For a long-term SIP you'd normally leave it off.

Exit load

You can cancel a SIP at any time, but a percentage penalty applies if you exit before specified dates. Open-ended funds may charge exit fees and DP fees on redemption, with the exit fee depending on your holding period. Exact loads vary by scheme and sit in the offer document — read it before you register, not after. The exit-load slider in Advanced lets you model it.

The charges you can ignore (and the one you can't)

Open-ended SIP units are bought directly from the fund manager at NAV, so you avoid the broker commission and SEBON fee that apply to NEPSE-traded closed-end funds. Units bought directly from the manager are priced strictly at that day's NAV, with only a DP fee on purchase.

The charge you cannot ignore is the fund's own annual management expense, because it's invisible — already netted out of the NAV you see. A 1.5% annual expense on a fund averaging 12% means you experience 10.5%. Over 20 years on a Rs 5,000 SIP that difference is roughly Rs 9 lakh — Rs 49.96 lakh becomes Rs 40.88 lakh. The expense slider exists so you can see it.

What Five Years of Running a SIP in Nepal Actually Taught Me

If you're tracking a SIP alongside direct NEPSE holdings, the bookkeeping gets messy fast — units at dozens of different NAVs, dividends, and a separate share portfolio. That's the problem GoldenEdge Portfolio Manager was built to solve, and there's a fuller walkthrough in our guide to GoldenEdge as a NEPSE portfolio manager for investors in Nepal.

SIP vs Fixed Deposit vs Buying NEPSE Shares Directly

The honest summary: an FD is the right home for money you'll need within three years. A SIP is the right default for money you won't touch for seven or more. Direct NEPSE investing can beat both, but only if you'll genuinely do the research — and most people who think they will, don't. For readers who are also building the statutory side of their long-term savings, our guide to the Social Security Fund (SSF) in Nepal covers how that layer fits underneath a voluntary SIP.

Seven SIP Mistakes This Calculator Should Help You Avoid

1. Entering a return you can't defend. If you typed 18% because it made the number look nice, you didn't plan — you daydreamed. Run 6%, 10% and 15% and check whether the goal survives the low case.
2. Ignoring the real value figure. Rs 1 crore in 2046 will not buy what Rs 1 crore buys today. At 5% inflation it buys roughly what Rs 37 lakh buys now. Plan in today's money.
3. Leaving the instalment flat for a decade. The single most expensive mistake available to you, and the easiest to fix.
4. Stopping during a drawdown. A falling NAV means your fixed instalment buys more units. Stopping then locks in the worst of both worlds. This is rupee-cost averaging working exactly as designed — it just doesn't feel like it.
5. Treating the dividend as the return. NAV growth plus dividends is your return. Enable reinvestment unless you specifically need the income.
6. Running a SIP with no emergency fund behind it. If a medical bill forces you to redeem in month 14, you pay an exit load, possibly 5% short-term CGT, and you crystallise whatever the market happens to be doing. Build three to six months of expenses in an FD or savings account first, then start the SIP.
7. Picking the fund before picking the horizon. Everyone asks "which is the best SIP in Nepal?" first. The better first question is "how long until I need this money?" — that answer determines whether you want an equity, balanced or debt scheme, and the fund choice follows from it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Disclaimer: This calculator and article are for education and illustration only. They do not constitute investment advice, and the outputs are not predictions. Mutual funds have no fixed rate of return, unit values fluctuate with market conditions, and past dividend or NAV performance does not indicate future results. Tax rates, exit loads and scheme terms change — verify current details in the scheme's offer document and with a qualified adviser before investing. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.