₹3 crore is enough to retire in India? This investment banker says you’re dangerously wrong

You’ll likely need more than you think to retire in India. 

Investment banker Sarthak Ahuja recently broke down the numbers in a LinkedIn post, warning that popular retirement advice online often underestimates the real requirement. 

"You will be shocked to know how much money you need to retire in India today," he wrote, before laying out a clear-sighted formula.

Most retirement portfolios in India today are a mix of equities and fixed deposits—liquid enough to access but varying in returns. Ahuja assumes a blended return of 10% per annum, combining 12–14% from equity and 5–7% from debt.

Next comes the drag of taxes and inflation. With investment income likely taxed at around 20% in retirement, and inflation eating away another 6% annually, real returns shrink dramatically. What you’re left with, Ahuja points out, is just 2% net real return on your retirement fund.

And that’s where the math hits.

For a comfortable lifestyle—including monthly expenses of ₹1.5 lakh, medical needs, domestic help, and contingency funds—you’ll need ₹20 lakh per year. At a 2% real return, this means your retirement corpus should be at least ₹10 crore. “I’ve not even added any contingencies or big life spends here, or the value of your home,” he adds.

Want to live comfortably? Aim higher. A corpus of ₹15 crore, well-invested, gives you room to breathe.

Ahuja’s rule of thumb: your retirement fund should be 50X your annual expense. That means if your household spends ₹10 lakh annually, you need ₹5 crore; ₹20 lakh a year means ₹10 crore, and so on.

His post comes at a time when India’s demographic advantage is on the clock. While the median age is 28.8 today, projections show that India’s elderly population (60+) will double by 2050. By then, 1 in 5 Indians will be a senior citizen—a looming shift with massive implications for healthcare, financial planning, and social safety nets.