How Inflation Erodes Money
Inflation compounds against you: Future cost = Today's cost × (1 + rate)years. At India's ~6% average CPI, prices double roughly every 12 years (Rule of 72).
Example: a ₹1,00,000-a-year lifestyle today will cost about ₹3.2 lakh in 20 years at 6% inflation. Flip it around: ₹1 lakh received 20 years from now buys only what ₹31,180 buys today.
This is why parking money in a 3% savings account is a slow leak — and why education (8%+) and healthcare (10%+) goals need aggressive planning. Any investment's real return = nominal return − inflation: a 7% FD in a 6% world grows wealth ~1% a year; a 12% equity CAGR grows it ~6%.
Plan against it with the SIP Calculator, check your investments' CAGR, or see guaranteed options with the FD and PPF calculators.