XIRR (Extended Internal Rate of Return) is the actual annualised return on an investment with multiple, irregular cash flows on different dates. It's the only honest way to measure SIP returns. The calculator solves XIRR using Newton-Raphson iteration on whatever cash flow series you provide.
What is XIRR?
Simple CAGR breaks down when there are multiple investments at different times. If you SIP ₹10,000/month for 5 years, you've invested ₹6 lakh, but the contributions happened on 60 different dates. CAGR can't accurately represent that.
XIRR solves it by treating each cash flow as occurring on its specific date. The math: find a single annualised rate r that, when applied as discounting to all cash flows, makes the net present value zero. There's no closed-form solution — it requires iteration (Newton-Raphson is the standard method).
Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets have built-in XIRR functions; mutual fund statements show 'XIRR returns'. The calculator above does the same calculation directly from cash flow entries you paste in. Use it to verify mutual fund app numbers, compare your portfolio against a benchmark, or evaluate any irregular investment series.
Newton-Raphson on the NPV equation
Each cash flow is discounted by (1+r)^(days/365). The sum of all discounted flows must equal zero. Newton-Raphson iterates from an initial guess (10%) until convergence — usually 5-10 iterations for typical portfolios.
- Cᵢ
- Cash flow i—negative for investments, positive for returns
- dᵢ
- Days from base date—elapsed days from the first cash flow
How to use this calculator
Paste cash flow entries, one per line. Format: YYYY-MM-DD,amount.
Enter cash flows
One per line. Format: 'YYYY-MM-DD,amount'. Negative = investment (money going out), positive = return (money coming in).
Include the current value
Last entry should be the current portfolio value with today's date as a positive number — represents 'if you redeemed today'.
Read XIRR
Annualised return percentage. The calculator also shows total invested, total returned, net gain, and number of cash flows.
When you need XIRR
SIP performance verification
Your fund app says XIRR is 13.2%. Verify by exporting transactions and running them through the calculator. Useful to spot app errors.
Comparing portfolio vs benchmark
Calculate XIRR of your portfolio + dividends. Compare against Nifty 50 XIRR over the same period.
Evaluating partial redemptions
If you've made multiple withdrawals from a corpus, XIRR captures the true return — CAGR can't.
Real estate investment with rentals
Multi-year rental income + capital appreciation — XIRR is the only metric that handles this honestly.
Glossary
- XIRR
- Extended Internal Rate of Return. Annualised return considering each cash flow's specific date.
- IRR
- Internal Rate of Return — assumes equal time intervals. XIRR is the date-aware extension.
- NPV
- Net Present Value — sum of cash flows discounted to today. XIRR is the rate at which NPV = 0.
- Newton-Raphson
- Iterative numerical method for solving equations. Used to find XIRR.