What is it?
The NPV and IRR Calculator tells you whether a project, machine, shop or property earns more than your required return.
Who is it for?
Business owners, farmers and investors judging a machine, shop, vehicle or project; also finance students.
How to use it
- Enter the Discount rate: the return you could get elsewhere, or your cost of borrowing.
- Enter Cash flows, one per year, starting today (investment with −), e.g.
-500000, 150000, 180000, 200000, 200000. - Read the NPV, the IRR and the Total of cash flows.
Reading the result
- NPV above 0: the project earns more than your discount rate. Below 0: you’d do better elsewhere.
- IRR: the rate at which NPV is exactly 0. If IRR is higher than your required return, the project is attractive.
- The plain Total ignores the time value of money; ₹1 received in 5 years is worth less than ₹1 today.
Choosing the discount rate
Use your loan interest rate if you borrow for the project, or a safe return (like an FD rate) plus a margin for risk. Riskier projects deserve a higher rate.
Limits
- Cash flows that switch between − and + more than once can have more than one IRR. Trust NPV in that case.
- The result is only as good as your cash-flow estimates; try a cautious and an optimistic case.
Errors and how to fix them
- “Add at least two cash flows”: the investment and at least one return.
Open the tool: NPV and IRR Calculator
Still stuck?
Contact support. Tell us which tool or page you were using, what you tapped, what you saw, and your phone or computer and browser (for example: Android phone, Chrome). We reply by email.
Questions, or an error not listed here?
Tell us in the comments: what you were doing, the exact message you saw, and your device and browser. We read every comment and add new fixes to this article.