Use this free online ROI calculator to work out the Return on Investment percentage for any purchase, project, or investment. Simply enter what you initially spent and what you ultimately received back, and instantly see whether you made a net gain or a net loss.
Calculates the Return on Investment (ROI) based on your initial investment/cost and the final value/amount received.
How to Use the ROI Calculator
Enter the amount you originally spent in "Initial Investment / Cost (₹)".
Enter the amount you received back in "Final Value / Amount Received (₹)".
Click "Calculate ROI".
Read the ROI percentage along with the resulting net gain or net loss amount.
What to Put in Each Field
ROI is only as good as the two numbers you enter. "Initial investment" should be everything you paid to get into the investment, including fees, brokerage, stamp duty and taxes paid at purchase. "Final value" should be everything you got out of it after costs of selling, plus any income received along the way, such as dividends, rent or interest. The calculator then subtracts one from the other and expresses the difference as a percentage of what you put in. The result can be negative, which means a loss.
Worked Examples
Shares: you invest ₹50,000 including brokerage and sell for ₹62,000 after charges, having received ₹1,500 in dividends. Enter ₹50,000 and ₹63,500: ROI is 27.00% and the net gain ₹13,500.
Property: a flat bought for ₹40,00,000 plus ₹2,80,000 of stamp duty and registration costs ₹42,80,000. Six years later it sells for ₹55,00,000 and you pay ₹55,000 brokerage, leaving ₹54,45,000. ROI is 27.22%, a gain of ₹11,65,000. Spread over six years, that is only about 4.09% a year in CAGR terms, before considering rent received or maintenance paid.
Business spending: a ₹30,000 advertising campaign brings in ₹1,20,000 of extra sales at a 25% gross margin. The gain is the ₹30,000 of extra profit, not the sales, so the campaign's ROI is 0%: it paid for itself and nothing more.
ROI Ignores Time, So Compare Carefully
The same ROI can be excellent or poor depending on how long it took. A 50% return in 2 years works out to about 22.47% a year, while an 80% return over 6 years is about 10.29% a year, so the investment with the lower total ROI actually performed better per year. When comparing investments held for different periods, convert ROI to an annual rate with the CAGR Calculator, using the initial investment, final value and number of years.
Other Things ROI Leaves Out
Tax: capital gains tax on the profit reduces what you keep. For a post-tax ROI, subtract the tax from the final value.
Inflation: a 27% gain over six years may barely keep pace with rising prices.
Risk: a guaranteed 8% and a volatile 8% are not equally attractive.
Money added in instalments: if you invested in several lots at different times, a single ROI figure is approximate; XIRR gives a more accurate annual return.
Frequently Asked Questions
It calculates ROI as ((Final Value − Initial Investment) ÷ Initial Investment) × 100. The difference between the final value and the initial investment is also shown separately as your net gain or net loss.
A good ROI depends on the type of investment and the time period involved — a higher percentage generally means a more profitable outcome, but you should also compare it against the risk taken and how long the investment was held.
ROI is the total percentage gain over the whole holding period. CAGR spreads that gain into an equivalent yearly rate with compounding. For anything held longer than a year, CAGR is the better figure for comparing investments.
Yes. Add any income you received from the investment to the final value. Leaving it out understates the return, which matters most for rental property and dividend-paying shares, where income can be a large part of the total gain.
Yes. An ROI of 100% means you doubled your money, and 200% means you tripled it. The lowest possible ROI on an ordinary investment is −100%, which means the whole amount was lost.