How much monthly SIP will build a ₹3 crore retirement corpus in 25 years?

A 30-year-old planning to retire at 60 with ₹3 crore needs a monthly SIP of roughly ₹16,000 at 12% expected returns. Start at 25 instead of 30 and the same target needs only ₹9,500 a month — every five years of delay nearly doubles the required outlay. This single chart explains why financial advisors push early investing harder than any other habit.

₹3 crore at 60 sounds large, but inflation-adjusted it’s roughly ₹70 lakh in today’s purchasing power. At a 4% safe withdrawal rate, that supports about ₹2.3 lakh per month in 2056 rupees — equivalent to ~₹55,000/month today. Comfortable but not lavish, especially in metro cities where healthcare costs grow faster than CPI.

Three accelerators help bridge the gap: step-up SIP (increasing your monthly contribution by 10% each year as income grows), equity tilt (80-85% equity allocation up to age 50), and tax-advantaged accounts (NPS Tier-1 + EPF + PPF together can shelter ₹2-3 lakh per year). Most Indian retirees end up with a mix of all four corpus-building tools — not just SIPs.