Step-up SIP example
This example uses the same defaults as the calculator: monthly SIP ₹10,000, expected return 12% a year, 15 years, 10% step-up. It is a teaching case, not a fund pick and not a promise.Load these inputs and follow the table while you read.
Year one
You send ₹10,000 twelve times (₹1.2 lakh). Each month the running corpus is increased by the instalment and then grown at 1% (12% ÷ 12). A regular SIP does the same thing this year, because the step-up has not fired yet. The two columns match at the end of year one.
Year two onwards
The step-up SIP moves to ₹11,000 a month. The regular SIP stays at ₹10,000. From here the invested totals diverge. By year ten the stepped instalment is about ₹23,600. By year fifteen it is a little under ₹38,000. That last-year SIP is the number households underestimate when they only look at the starting ₹10,000.
How to read the three headline tiles
- Step-up corpus is the projected value of all stepped instalments at the assumed return.
- Regular SIP corpus is the same maths with a frozen ₹10,000. On these inputs it is the familiar “₹10,000 for 15 years at 12%” case.
- Extra from step-up is the gap between those two ending values. Part of it is money you paid in; part is compounding on that extra money.
Always read invested (step-up) next to the corpus. A larger corpus that required several extra lakhs of salary is not free wealth. The gains line (corpus minus invested) is the piece that depends on the return assumption — and that assumption is the weakest input on the form.
Stress the example
Change one input at a time:
- Set step-up to 0%. Both corpuses should match. That confirms the comparison is fair.
- Drop return from 12% to 8%. The ending gap shrinks. High return assumptions flatter every plan, especially long ones.
- Cut tenure to 5 years. Step-up has less time to matter. Most of the drama in the chart appears after year eight.
If the final monthly SIP in the results card looks uncomfortable, the example is telling you something useful: lower the step-up, not just the expected return. More on that inmistakes to avoid.
StepSip is a calculator, not an adviser. Projections assume a constant return, which markets do not deliver. Confirm tax rules and product documents before you invest. See thefull disclaimer.