Finance
Loan Calculator
Work backwards from any two of the three numbers that define a loan. Find the EMI for a loan amount, the loan amount an EMI can support, or how long it will take to clear a balance at a given monthly payment.
How to use this calculator
- Choose what you want to find: EMI, loan amount, or tenure.
- Fill in the remaining fields.
- Read the answer, along with total interest and total payment.
Formula
P = EMI × ((1 + r)ⁿ − 1) / (r × (1 + r)ⁿ) and n = −log(1 − P × r / EMI) / log(1 + r)
- P
- loan amount
- EMI
- fixed monthly instalment
- r
- monthly interest rate
- n
- number of instalments
Both are rearrangements of the standard EMI formula. Tenure is rounded up to a whole month, so the last instalment is usually smaller.
Worked example
You can comfortably pay ₹20,000 a month for 5 years, and your bank offers 10% per year.
- Monthly rate (r)10 ÷ 12 ÷ 100 = 0.008333
- Months (n)5 × 12 = 60
- Loan amount20,000 × (1.008333⁶⁰ − 1) / (0.008333 × 1.008333⁶⁰)
A ₹20,000 monthly budget supports a loan of about ₹9,41,000, on which you would pay roughly ₹2,59,000 in interest.
Three ways to approach the same loan
A loan is defined by four numbers: the amount, the rate, the tenure and the instalment. Fix any three and the fourth is determined. That makes the same formula useful in three different situations.
- Finding the EMI answers: what will this loan cost me each month?
- Finding the loan amount answers: my budget is a fixed monthly payment, so how much can I borrow?
- Finding the tenure answers: at the amount I can pay, when will this be over?
Why an EMI that is too small never clears a loan
If your monthly payment is less than the interest charged for that month, the balance grows instead of falling and the loan never ends. When you solve for tenure, the calculator checks for this and tells you the minimum payment that will actually reduce the balance.
Things to keep in mind
- Lenders also apply eligibility rules based on income, existing loans and credit history, so the amount you qualify for may be lower than the amount an EMI can mathematically support.
- Results assume a fixed rate and equal monthly instalments with no payment holidays.
Frequently asked questions
How much loan can I get on my salary?
Start with the EMI you can afford, which lenders usually cap at around 40% to 50% of take-home pay across all loans, then use the loan amount mode here to convert that EMI into a borrowing figure. The lender's own eligibility check may still come out lower.
Why does the calculator refuse some EMI values when I solve for tenure?
Because that EMI is smaller than the first month's interest. The balance would grow every month and the loan would never be repaid, so the calculator shows the minimum EMI needed instead.
Related articles
- How to calculate EMI for a home loanUnderstand the EMI formula, how interest and principal split inside each instalment, and what actually changes the total cost of a home loan.2 min read
- Prepaying a loan: what actually saves the mostWhen you prepay a loan, you usually choose between a lower EMI and a shorter tenure. Here is how the two differ and when each one makes sense.1 min read
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