Inflation Value Calculator — India

Let's have an example to understand how one can use inflation value calculator.

Gain from a House Site

Say you bought a Hyderabad house site in 2010 for 28 Lakhs and sold it in 2024 for 90 Lakhs. Simply put, you gained Rs. 62 Lakhs.

Inflation and True Gain

Every country has inflation (price increases and rupee value loss), so we must compensate for your 2010 investment.

This calculator calculates inflation value on Rs. 28 Lakhs invested in 2010 as Rs. 55 Lakhs. Thus, (90 Lakhs - 28 Lakhs - 55 Lakhs) = Rs. 7 Lakhs is the true gain.

Alternative Investment & Comparison

If you deposited the same Rs. 28 Lakhs in a bank fixed deposit (FD) in 2010, and withdrew it in 2024 (after 14 years at 8.4% interest, use Compound Interest Calculator to get the interest), you would have gotten Rs. 58 Lakhs, the real gain after inflation would be just Rs. 3 Lakhs (Rs. 58 Lakhs - Rs. 55 Lakhs)

In comparison, the "real gain" after inflation from the house plot have fetched Rs. 4 Lakhs more than a standard FD investment.

Summary

To put it simply, the gains that take inflation into account would help you figure out what the real return on an investment is.

Housing Price Example

As an illustration, suppose you intended to acquire an apartment in 2010 for Rs. 3000 at a base per square foot (SFT) price. The per-SFT price for an equivalent apartment should have increased to Rs. 5897 in 2024 due to inflation.

In 2024, the actual market price per square foot of an apartment in Hyderabad is approximately Rs. 8000. This indicates that the increase exceeds the price adjusted for inflation.

24K Gold Example

Likewise, with regard to the cost of gold, the rate of Rs. 18,500 per 10 grams for 24 karat gold in India in 2010 should have increased to Rs. 36,398 after accounting for inflation. The actual market price per 10 grams of 24-karat gold in 2024 is Rs. 64,000 due to geo-political risks, uncertainty in world economy, recession etc.

Inflation is the rate at which the prices of things and services as a whole go up, making money worth less. It is often shown as a yearly percentage, which shows the average rate of price growth over a certain amount of time.

Businesses, politicians, and individuals must understand inflation. The value of money, savings, and assets are affected. Inflation can destabilize the economy, lower purchasing power from common people, and affect spending, saving, and investing.

Demand for goods and services, growing production costs, monetary policy, supply shocks, wage increases, and global economic difficulties can generate inflation. Inflation is often triggered by a combination of factors.

Central banks (such as RBI in India) control inflation with interest rates. Central banks may raise interest rates to curb spending and calm the economy during inflation.

But that wouldn't happen until after a few months of repo rate changes. In the meantime, rates on Fixed Deposits (FDs) may not see higher rates.

Yes, negative inflation, also called deflation, happens when the prices of all goods and services go down over time. This doesn't happen as often as inflation, but it can cause its own economic problems.

In January 2024, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation reported 5.10% annual retail inflation in India.