How the inflation calculator works
Inflation is the rate at which prices rise, so the same money buys less each year. This calculator has two modes. Future cost answers "what will something that costs this much today cost in N years?" and "what will today's money be worth then?". Past value uses India's official Consumer Price Index (CPI) to convert an amount from one financial year into another, for example to compare a salary in 2013-14 with its equivalent in 2024-25.
The currency selector only changes how numbers are shown. Future-cost mode works for any country: enter that country's expected inflation rate. Past-value mode always uses India's CPI.
Formula with a worked example
Prices compound like interest, just in the wrong direction for your savings:
Future cost = Amount × (1 + r)n and Purchasing power = Amount ÷ (1 + r)n
Example: at 5.1% a year, something that costs ₹1,00,000 today will cost about ₹1,64,447 in 10 years and ₹2,70,430 in 20 years. Put the other way, ₹1,00,000 kept in cash for 10 years will buy only what ₹60,810 buys today, a loss of 39% of its value. At 6% the 10-year cost rises to ₹1,79,085.
A quick mental check is the rule of 72: divide 72 by the inflation rate to get the years it takes prices to double. At 5.1%, prices double in about 14 years.
Past value with India CPI
Equivalent value = Amount × CPI(to year) ÷ CPI(from year).
CPI averaged 112 in 2013-14 and 193 in 2024-25. So ₹1,000 in 2013-14 is equivalent to about ₹1,723 in 2024-25: prices rose 72.3% in total, or 5.07% a year on average. Going backwards, ₹1 lakh in 2024-25 had the buying power of about ₹58,031 in 2013-14.
Since 2019-20, just before the pandemic, prices have risen 32.2% (5.7% a year): ₹50,000 then is like ₹66,096 in 2024-25.
About the CPI data
The figures are yearly averages of the All-India CPI (Combined), base 2012=100, published by the National Statistics Office (MoSPI) and reproduced in the Economic Survey 2025-26 Statistical Appendix, Table 4.3. The default rate of 5.1% is the compound annual growth of this index from 2013-14 to 2024-25 (5.07%, rounded to one decimal).
The last full data point is 2024-25. The table gives 193 as the average of months for 2024-25; 192 is the last-month (March) index, not a revised annual average. This tool uses 193. Because the published index values are whole numbers, results can differ by up to about 1% from calculations using unrounded data. From January 2026, MoSPI moved CPI to a new base year of 2024=100. The old and new series are not directly comparable, so this tool does not join them.
Using inflation in your planning
Goals: inflate the cost of a future goal (a child's education, a car, retirement expenses) before you work out how much to save. Education and healthcare costs often rise faster than overall CPI, so test a higher rate too.
Real returns: a fixed deposit paying 7% when inflation is 5.1% grows your purchasing power by only about 1.8% a year, and less after tax. Compare tax-free options such as the PPF calculator.
Salary: to check whether a raise beats inflation, convert your old salary with the past-value mode, then compare it with what the CTC to in-hand calculator says you will take home now.
The Reserve Bank of India targets CPI inflation of 4%, within a band of 2% to 6%. Actual inflation has often been higher than 4%, which is why the historical average is used as the default.