EMI calculator online

How to use the EMI calculator

1. Enter the loan amount (principal).
2. Enter the annual interest rate as a percentage.
3. Enter the loan tenure in months (for example, 60 for a 5-year loan).
4. Read the monthly EMI, total payment, and total interest, which update as you type.
5. Try a few different tenures to see how a longer term lowers the EMI but increases total interest paid.

This uses the standard reducing-balance EMI formula used by most banks for home, auto, and personal loans. It assumes a fixed interest rate for the full tenure.

Supported formats

Loan amount and interest rate accept decimal values. Tenure must be a whole number of months greater than zero. There is no fixed maximum, though very large principal or tenure values are unusual for a real consumer loan and worth double-checking if entered by mistake.

What EMI is and how the formula works

EMI stands for Equated Monthly Installment: a fixed monthly payment that covers both interest and a portion of the principal, structured so the loan is fully paid off by the end of its tenure. The standard formula is EMI = P × r × (1+r)^n / ((1+r)^n - 1), where P is the principal, r is the monthly interest rate (annual rate divided by 12, as a decimal), and n is the number of monthly installments. Even though the EMI amount stays the same every month, the split between interest and principal within each payment changes over time: early payments are mostly interest, and later payments are mostly principal, because interest is calculated on the remaining balance, which shrinks over the loan's life.

Best practices

• Compare EMI across a few different tenures for the same loan amount and rate, since a longer tenure lowers the monthly payment but increases total interest paid substantially.
• Use the annual rate your lender quotes, not a monthly rate, since this calculator converts annual to monthly internally.
• Check the total interest figure, not just the EMI, when comparing loan offers; a lower EMI from a longer tenure can mean paying significantly more in total interest.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Entering a monthly rate instead of an annual rate. Lenders almost always quote annual rates; entering a monthly figure here would produce a wildly incorrect EMI.
• Forgetting that this is a fixed-rate calculation. A floating or variable-rate loan's actual EMI can change over time as the rate changes; this calculator shows what the EMI would be if the rate stayed fixed for the full tenure.
• Ignoring processing fees and other charges that lenders add on top of the loan amount, which this calculator does not include since they vary by lender.

Real-world use cases

• Estimating a home, auto, or personal loan's monthly payment before applying.
• Comparing offers from different lenders with different rates or tenures.
• Budgeting for a major purchase that will be financed.
• Checking a lender's quoted EMI figure against an independent calculation.

Worked example: how tenure changes the EMI and total interest

For a 500,000 loan at 10% annual interest, three different tenures produce very different outcomes:

The 120-month loan has a monthly payment less than a third of the 24-month option, but costs more than five times as much in total interest, since interest accrues on the outstanding balance for a much longer period.

Fixed-rate vs. floating-rate loans

This calculator assumes a fixed interest rate for the entire loan term, which is the simpler and more predictable case. Many real loans, especially longer-term ones like mortgages, offer a floating (variable) rate that moves with a benchmark rate over time. For a floating-rate loan, this calculator's result is only accurate for the period during which the current rate applies; if the rate changes, the actual EMI or the actual tenure needed to pay off the loan changes too, since lenders typically adjust one or the other (but not both) when a floating rate moves. Treat a floating-rate result here as a snapshot under today's rate, not a fixed prediction for the entire loan term.

Limitations

This calculator assumes a fixed interest rate for the entire tenure and does not account for processing fees, prepayment charges, insurance add-ons, or rate changes on a floating-rate loan. For the month-by-month breakdown of how each payment splits between principal and interest, see the loan calculator, which shows the full amortization schedule.

Privacy

All calculation happens locally in your browser as you type. Nothing is sent to a server. See the privacy policy for the site's full data handling approach.

Troubleshooting

• If your EMI looks far higher than expected, double-check you entered an annual rate, not a monthly one.
• If you need a month-by-month payment breakdown, use the loan calculator instead.
• If the tenure field shows an error, make sure it's a whole number of months greater than zero.

Conclusion

Use this calculator to quickly estimate a loan's monthly payment and total interest cost. For the full payment-by-payment schedule, see the loan calculator; for investment planning instead of borrowing, see the SIP calculator.