How much corpus do I need to get ₹1 lakh/month in retirement

Summary: We did the math for a 60-year-old with modest needs and one simple goal: Rs 1 lakh/month for the next 30 years. Let’s see how much she really needs—and why most Indians are underestimating retirement by a mile. (We provide a mathematical answer and a practical one in this piece…) For most of her life, Mrs Meera Apte balanced budgets like a tightrope walker. She raised her daughter single-handedly, worked as a school teacher for 35 years and made every rupee stretch, whether it was for tuition fees, her daughter’s college hostel or helping with the down payment for her first flat in Pune. Now at 60, with her daughter settled abroad and her own responsibilities mostly behind her, Mrs Apte finally wants to live for herself. “Just enough to feel secure, travel occasionally, enjoy a nice cup of filter coffee in the morning and never feel like I have to cut corners,” she says. For her, that means a monthly income of about Rs 1 lakh. No frills. No extravagance. Just dignity and independence. But how much does she really need to make that dream sustainable for the next 30 years? The answer: Rs 2.78 crore Most people assume that Rs 1 crore is a solid retirement corpus. But in today’s India, where inflation is quietly at work behind the scenes, that amount simply won’t go the distance. We crunched the numbers f

This article was originally published on July 22, 2025.