XIRR Calculator

Calculate the Extended Internal Rate of Return (XIRR) for irregular transaction cashflows (SIPs, lump sums, and withdrawals).

Parameters
Cash Flows (Negative = Investment, Positive = Return/Balance)
Calculated Results
Calculated XIRR (Annualized CAGR)-

XIRR: Annualising Returns on Irregular Cash Flows

XIRR, the extended internal rate of return (see the XIRR glossary entry), annualises a series of cash flows that happen on different dates and in different amounts: SIP instalments, top-ups, part withdrawals and the final redemption rolled into one number. Technically it is the rate at which the net present value of every dated flow equals zero, each amount is discounted back to the start by (1 + r) raised to its holding period in years, and the solver searches for the rate that balances the equation. In the default example (₹10,000 invested in January, ₹5,000 in June and ₹17,000 received the following January) the result is roughly 15.8% a year.

This is the number that matters for a SIP, because every instalment is invested for a different length of time. Twelve monthly instalments of ₹10,000 put ₹1.2 lakh to work across the year; if the value at the end is ₹1.35 lakh, that is a 12.5% absolute gain, but the XIRR comes to about 23.8% a year, because the average rupee was invested for only about 55% of the period. Early in a SIP, your XIRR and the fund's published return behave differently (XIRR is a money-weighted return, while the fund's headline is time-weighted) and the two move closer together as the corpus matures.

Don't confuse XIRR with CAGR: CAGR handles one investment at the start and one value at the end, and feeding it only a SIP's first and last numbers gives a misleading answer. XIRR takes the full schedule, which is why platforms quote it for transactions rather than prices. Enter investments as negative amounts and the final balance or withdrawals as positive, one row per date. For a single lump sum held for a whole number of years, the two measures agree, so a plain investment can be checked in the CAGR calculator. Our guide to CAGR vs XIRR works through both measures with a full example.

Popular XIRR Calculations

Each scenario below describes a cash-flow pattern you can set up in the calculator, with investments entered as negative amounts and redemptions as positive:

Frequently Asked Questions

How is XIRR calculated?
XIRR is found by solving for the rate at which all cash flows, each discounted back to the first date, add up to zero, the net present value equation. There is no formula that rearranges neatly, so the answer is reached iteratively: the solver keeps trying rates until the discounted investments and returns offset exactly, using each flow's actual dates. In this calculator, enter investments as negative amounts and returns as positive; at least one of each is required for a solution.
What is the difference between XIRR and CAGR?
CAGR needs one start value and one end value and assumes nothing happened in between; XIRR accepts any number of dated cash flows, so it can handle SIPs, top-ups and withdrawals. If you gave XIRR just two flows, one investment and one redemption, it would produce the same annual rate as CAGR over that exact period. The difference shows up the moment amounts arrive on different dates, which is why SIP returns are quoted as XIRR.
Why is the XIRR of my SIP different from the fund's return?
Because the fund's quoted return is a price-to-price figure, while XIRR measures what your money actually did, and in a SIP the two are not the same pool. Each instalment compounds for a different period: the first instalment of a one-year SIP has been invested for 12 months, the last for barely one. The gap is widest in the first year or two; as more instalments accumulate and compound, XIRR drifts closer to the fund's own long-run performance.

Formula & Mathematical Approach

Computes the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for irregular cash flows using numerical methods.

Solves for r where: ∑t=0NCash Flowt(1+r)dt−d0365=0\text{Solves for } r \text{ where: } \sum_{t=0}^{N} \frac{\text{Cash Flow}_t}{(1 + r)^{\frac{d_t - d_0}{365}}} = 0
Show Plain Text / Excel Formula
Solves for r where: Sum [ Cash Flow_t / (1 + r) ^ ((d_t - d_0) / 365) ] = 0

Key Assumptions

  • Uses actual/365 day count convention.
  • Cash flows occur exactly on the specified dates.
  • Newton-Raphson with bisection fallback is used to find the root.