Direct vs Regular Mutual Fund Calculator
See how much of your SIP corpus a regular plan's commission quietly eats compared to the same fund's direct plan.
Year-wise comparison
| Year | Direct plan | Regular plan |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ₹1,92,140 | ₹1,91,094 |
| 2 | ₹4,08,648 | ₹4,04,301 |
| 3 | ₹6,52,615 | ₹6,42,180 |
| 4 | ₹9,27,523 | ₹9,07,586 |
| 5 | ₹12,37,296 | ₹12,03,705 |
| 6 | ₹15,86,355 | ₹15,34,090 |
| 7 | ₹19,79,685 | ₹19,02,707 |
| 8 | ₹24,22,898 | ₹23,13,980 |
| 9 | ₹29,22,323 | ₹27,72,845 |
| 10 | ₹34,85,086 | ₹32,84,809 |
| 11 | ₹41,19,222 | ₹38,56,018 |
| 12 | ₹48,33,783 | ₹44,93,325 |
| 13 | ₹56,38,967 | ₹52,04,382 |
| 14 | ₹65,46,269 | ₹59,97,720 |
| 15 | ₹75,68,640 | ₹68,82,863 |
Same fund, two different price tags
Every mutual fund scheme is sold in two plans: direct and regular. Same portfolio, same fund manager, same market returns — the same fund, sold at two different price tags. The regular plan carries a higher expense ratio because a distributor's commission is built into it, deducted silently from the fund's NAV every single day. You never see a bill, which is why the cost feels invisible.
This calculator shows what that invisible gap does to a SIP: enter your monthly amount, tenure, the direct plan's expected return and the extra expense ratio of the regular plan, and it projects both corpora and the rupees lost to commissions.
How the two plans are projected
FV = P × [((1 + i)ⁿ − 1) ÷ i] × (1 + i) — at the direct rate, then at (direct − gap)
- P — the monthly SIP amount; n — months (years × 12)
- i — the monthly rate: annual return ÷ 12, instalments at the start of each month (annuity-due)
- gap — the regular plan's extra expense ratio; its return is the direct return minus this gap, floored at 0%
Fund NAVs are already net of expenses, so the expense difference shows up directly as a return difference — a 12% direct plan with a 1% gap behaves like an 11% regular plan. Both sides use the same SIP maths as our standalone SIP calculator.
How to use this calculator
- Enter your monthly SIP amount.
- Set the time period in years — expense drag compounds, so longer tenures show a much larger gap.
- Set the direct plan return — 12% p.a. is a common long-term equity assumption.
- Set the extra expense ratio of the regular plan — typically between 0.5% and 1.5%, with equity funds often near 1%.
The results show the amount invested, both plan values, the rupees lost to commissions and a year-wise table of the widening gap.
A worked example
₹15,000 a month for 15 years — direct plan at 12% p.a., regular plan 1% costlier:
- Amount invested: 180 × ₹15,000 = ₹27,00,000
- Direct plan value: ₹75,68,639.99
- Regular plan value (at 11%): ₹68,82,863.44
- Lost to commissions: ₹6,85,776.55 — about ₹6.86 lakh
After year one the gap is barely ₹1,046 (₹1,92,139.92 vs ₹1,91,093.88). By year fifteen it has compounded into nearly a quarter of the amount you invested. Both projections assume the market delivers; actual returns vary.
What an expense ratio actually is
The total expense ratio (TER) is the annual percentage of a fund's assets deducted to run it — the management fee, operating costs and, in regular plans, the distributor's trail commission. It is charged by shaving the NAV a little every day, so it never appears as a debit on any statement. SEBI caps TERs and requires both plans' ratios to be disclosed; the direct-minus-regular gap for equity funds commonly sits between 0.5% and 1.5% a year.
A 1% gap sounds trivial next to a 12% return. But the commission is charged on your entire growing corpus every year — not on your instalment — which is why the example above quietly loses ₹6.86 lakh. The gap input in this calculator is exactly that number: the regular plan's TER minus the direct plan's TER for the same scheme.
Check the scheme name in your account statement or consolidated account statement (CAS): direct plans carry the word "Direct" in the name. If it isn't there, you hold the regular plan and a distributor is earning trail commission on your holding.
Yes. Both plans hold the same portfolio, but the direct plan's NAV grows faster because less is deducted daily — over time its NAV pulls visibly ahead of the regular plan's. Your units simply compound at the higher net rate.
Yes, any time — but a switch is treated as a redemption plus a fresh purchase. Exit load may apply, and capital gains tax can arise: for equity funds, 12.5% on long-term gains beyond ₹1,25,000 a year and 20% on short-term gains at current rates. Many investors switch in tranches to manage the tax.
For the same scheme, the direct plan mathematically returns more — the portfolios are identical and only the cost differs. What you give up is the distributor's service. If you want ongoing advice, a fee-only adviser plus direct plans is the usual cost-transparent alternative.
Yes — published NAVs and fund returns are always after expenses. That is why this calculator only asks for the gap between the two plans, not the full expense ratio: the direct return you enter is already a net figure.