Direct vs Regular Fund Calculator
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Quick Summary
- See exactly how many lakhs you lose to regular-plan commissions over time. Compare expense ratio impact on your specific investment. Free calculator.
- For example, ₹5 lakh invested, 1% expense-ratio gap, 15 years works out to ≈ 10-15% more corpus in direct plan.
- Built for existing mutual fund investors deciding whether to switch from a regular plan to a direct plan
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Your Investment
Typical Indian equity MF: Direct 0.3–1.0% · Regular 1.0–2.5%.
Expense ratio is deducted daily from NAV — invisible but compounding.
Commission cost of staying in Regular plan
Adjust sliders to calculate
Direct Plan
ER: 0.50%
Regular Plan
ER: 1.50%
💡 What the commission eats
Regular plan distributors earn this commission from your returns every year.
📋 Real Expense Ratio Examples (2024)
| Year | Direct | Regular | Gap (₹) |
|---|
How the Direct vs Regular Fund Calculator Works
The only real difference between a fund's direct and regular plan is the expense ratio (regular plans bake in distributor commission). The calculator compounds the same investment at both expense ratios over your holding period and shows the rupee gap that accumulates purely from that cost difference.
Example Scenarios
| Scenario | Result |
|---|---|
| ₹5 lakh invested, 1% expense-ratio gap, 15 years | ≈ 10-15% more corpus in direct plan |
| ₹10,000/month SIP, 1.2% gap, 20 years | Meaningfully larger gap the longer you stay invested |
| ₹1 lakh invested, 0.5% gap, 10 years | Smaller but still real cost of staying in regular plan |
* Illustrative estimates assuming constant annual returns. Actual results vary with market conditions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Direct plans are purchased straight from the AMC with no distributor commission, resulting in a lower expense ratio. Regular plans are purchased through a distributor/advisor who earns a trail commission, which is built into a higher expense ratio — the underlying portfolio and fund manager are identical in both.
The expense ratio difference between direct and regular plans is typically 0.5-1.5% per year. Compounded over 15-20 years, this difference alone can result in 10-25% more final corpus in the direct plan, purely from lower ongoing costs.
Switching (redeeming and reinvesting) may trigger capital gains tax and, for equity funds, needs at least 1 year holding to avoid STCG — so calculate the tax cost of switching versus the long-term expense ratio savings before deciding, especially for funds you've held a short time.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Assuming the expense ratio gap is too small to matter — even 0.5-1% compounds meaningfully over 15-20 years.
- Switching from regular to direct without checking the capital gains tax cost of redeeming first.
- Not realizing the fund manager and portfolio are identical — only the cost structure differs.
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* Calculations assume constant annual returns. Actual mutual fund returns vary. Past performance is not indicative of future results. FD comparison uses 7% p.a. SIP returns are compounded monthly.
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