XIRR Calculator
Extended Internal Rate of Return Calculator. Find returns for irregular cash flows.
Enter negative values for investments (outflow) and positive values for withdrawals/current value (inflow).
| Date | Amount | |
|---|---|---|
Annualized Return (XIRR)
20.00%
How the XIRR Calculator works
Reviewed by Dinesh Babu · Last updated July 2026
XIRR (Extended Internal Rate of Return) is the single annualised rate of return that ties together many cash flows happening on irregular dates — exactly the messy reality of SIPs, occasional top-ups and partial withdrawals. This calculator takes each dated cash flow (money in as negative, money out or final value as positive) and solves for that one rate.
Formally, XIRR is the discount rate that makes the net present value of all your dated cash flows equal to zero. In plain terms: it finds the constant annual rate at which every rupee, from the day it went in to the day you measured, would have to grow to explain your final balance. Because the equation has no neat closed-form solution, it is solved iteratively — the same method spreadsheets use for their XIRR function.
The key advantage over CAGR is that XIRR knows exactly when each rupee arrived. Money invested in month one has more time to compound than money invested in month thirty, and XIRR credits it accordingly.
XIRR definition (solved for the rate)
Σ [ Cashflowᵢ / (1 + XIRR)^(dᵢ / 365) ] = 0
dᵢ = days from the first cash flow to cash flow i. Inflows are negative, outflows/final value positive. Solved iteratively.
Why SIPs need XIRR, not CAGR
In a SIP your ₹1,20,000 was not invested on day one — it dribbled in over twelve months. Treating the whole ₹1,20,000 as if it grew for the full year (as a naive CAGR would) understates your return, because most of that money was in the market for far less than a year.
XIRR fixes this by discounting each instalment from its own date. That is why a SIP's XIRR is usually higher than its simple absolute return, and why fund apps report XIRR rather than CAGR for regular investments.
Reading and sanity-checking your XIRR
- Sign convention is everything: investments are negative cash flows, redemptions and the ending value are positive. Get a sign wrong and the answer is nonsense.
- Include the current value as a final positive cash flow dated today if the investment is still running.
- An unrealistically huge XIRR (say 200%) over a short period usually means a data or sign error — treat extreme numbers with suspicion.
- XIRR annualises everything, so a 3-month gain gets scaled up to a yearly rate — impressive short-term numbers can be misleading.
| Scenario | Use CAGR | Use XIRR |
|---|---|---|
| Bought one lump sum, sold once | Yes | Works too, but overkill |
| Monthly SIP | No | Yes |
| SIP with occasional top-ups | No | Yes |
| Irregular deposits and withdrawals | No | Yes |
A simple two-flow check
You invest ₹1,00,000 on 1 Jan 2025 and redeem ₹1,12,000 exactly one year later. XIRR here equals a plain 12% — with only one in and one out, XIRR and CAGR agree. The difference only appears once cash flows multiply.
A 12-month SIP
You invest ₹10,000 on the 1st of every month for 12 months (₹1,20,000 total) and the corpus is worth ₹1,29,000 at the end. Your absolute gain is 7.5%, but XIRR is markedly higher — around 13–14% annualised — because early instalments were invested for nearly a year while later ones had only a month or two. Absolute return badly understates SIP performance; XIRR corrects for it.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Getting the sign convention wrong — entering investments as positive instead of negative — which produces a meaningless or wildly off rate.
- Forgetting to include the final/current portfolio value as a cash flow. Without it, there is nothing for the invested amounts to be measured against.
- Comparing a short-period XIRR to a long-period one. Because XIRR annualises, a lucky 3-month run can show a huge rate that is not sustainable.
- Using XIRR to compare against a benchmark measured differently — compare like with like (XIRR of your SIP vs XIRR of the same SIP in an index).
Frequently asked questions
What is XIRR?+
XIRR is the single annualised rate of return that makes the net present value of all your dated cash flows equal to zero. It is the correct way to measure returns when money goes in and comes out on many different dates, such as in a SIP.
When should I use XIRR instead of CAGR?+
Use XIRR whenever there are multiple investments or withdrawals on different dates — SIPs, top-ups, partial redemptions. Use CAGR only for a single lump-sum invested once and valued once at the end.
Why is my SIP's XIRR higher than the total percentage gain I see?+
Because your instalments were invested for different lengths of time. The total gain treats all your money as if it earned that gain, but most of it was invested for well under the full period. XIRR annualises correctly by weighting each instalment by its date, so it is usually higher than the raw gain for a growing SIP.
Why do investments have to be entered as negative numbers?+
XIRR works on cash flows from your point of view: money leaving your pocket into the investment is an outflow (negative), and money coming back — redemptions or the current value — is an inflow (positive). This sign convention is what lets the maths balance to zero.
How is XIRR actually calculated?+
There is no direct formula — the rate that sets net present value to zero has to be found by iteration (guess, check, refine). Spreadsheets and this calculator do this automatically, the same way Excel's XIRR function does.
What is a good XIRR?+
As with CAGR, it depends on the asset class and the period. Compare your XIRR against the XIRR of a relevant benchmark index over the same dates and the same cash-flow pattern. For long-term Indian equity SIPs, low-double-digit XIRRs are commonly seen, but nothing is guaranteed.
Can XIRR be negative?+
Yes. If your redemptions and current value add up to less than you put in, XIRR is negative, showing the annualised rate of loss.
Is XIRR the same as IRR?+
They are closely related. IRR assumes cash flows happen at regular, equal intervals; XIRR extends it to handle cash flows on any actual calendar dates, which is why XIRR is the right choice for real-world, irregularly-timed investing.