How personal financial frustrations led to building a calculator that truly understands Indian needs
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It was late 2024, and I was sitting at my kitchen table surrounded by printouts, a calculator, and three different Excel spreadsheets. My wife looked over my shoulder and asked what I was doing.
"Trying to figure out if we should prepay part of our home loan or increase our SIP investments," I replied, not looking up.
"And how long have you been at it?" she asked.
"Just about... four hours now," I admitted.
That moment—that frustration of trying to make an informed financial decision without proper tools—was when the idea for Calqulation was born. Not as a business plan or startup pitch, but as a genuine need. I simply wanted a calculator that understood how Indians save, invest, and manage debt.
The Breaking Point: One Calculation Too Many
I've always considered myself financially savvy. As someone who grew up in a middle-class household in Rajkot where every rupee was accounted for, I learned early on that financial decisions matter. By 2024, I had a good job in tech, a home loan from a leading bank, and a disciplined investment routine.
Yet despite my technical background and financial discipline, I struggled with what should have been straightforward decisions:
- Should I prepay my home loan or increase my SIP?
- How would floating rate changes affect my home loan, especially with my planned prepayments?
- How would customized EMI adjustments impact my loan closure timeline?
- How would my SIP grow with annual step-up investments matching my salary growth?
The existing calculators were either too simplistic or completely disconnected from Indian realities. Most were built for Western financial systems and failed to account for our unique challenges.
When we started, we weren't thinking about building a product for the market. We were simply solving our own problems. Every feature in our calculator exists because one of us personally needed it at some point.
The Unique Challenges of Indian Financial Planning
India's financial landscape has always been distinctive. What makes financial planning here so different? Let me share what I've learned:
Family-First Financial Systems
Multi-generational responsibilities that don't fit Western individual-focused tools
Diverse Investment Traditions
From gold and real estate to modern SIPs and market investments
Evolving Regulatory Environment
Frequent policy changes that impact tax benefits and investment strategies
Inflation Variations
Category-specific inflation rates that differ significantly from headline numbers
Growing up, I watched my father manage finances with a small notebook where he tracked every expense. When I showed him some of the popular financial calculators, he pointed out something profound: "These tools don't understand how we think about money in India."
He was right. Most tools couldn't account for things like handling floating rate loan calculations accurately, modeling multiple prepayments at different intervals, or calculating step-up SIPs that grow with your income.
The Missing Pieces in Existing Tools
The more I explored existing calculators, the more gaps I found. Here's what was consistently missing:
| Feature | Basic Calculators | Advanced Calculators |
|---|---|---|
| Floating Rate Loan Integration | Fixed Rate Only | Floating Rate Modeling |
| Multiple Prepayment Options | Single Prepayment Only | Multiple/Recurring Prepayments |
| Detailed Amortization Schedule | Basic Payment Schedule | Comprehensive Month-wise Breakdown |
| Step-Up SIP Calculations | Fixed SIP Amount Only | Annual SIP Increase Options |
| Inflation-Adjusted SIP Returns | Nominal Returns Only | Real Returns After Inflation |
In late 2024, when we started our research, we found that most loan calculators couldn't accurately model floating rate changes with prepayments, and SIP calculators rarely incorporated step-up investments that matched salary growth patterns common in India's tech sector.
From Spreadsheets to Prototype: The Early Days
What began as a personal spreadsheet soon evolved. I shared it with a few colleagues who faced similar challenges. One of them, now our CTO, suggested turning it into a proper application.
"People need this," he insisted. "Not just tech professionals like us, but everyone from a young professional in Bangalore to a small business owner in Lucknow."
We started meeting on weekends, expanding the spreadsheet into something more powerful. Our first prototype was crude—just a web form connected to our calculation engine—but it worked. It could handle:
- Home loan calculations with multiple prepayment options
- Floating rate loan projections with interest rate change scenarios
- SIP calculations with step-up options tied to expected salary growth
- Detailed amortization schedules and EMI breakdown charts
When I showed it to my father, he spent three hours on it, recalculating his retirement plans. "This," he said, "actually makes sense to me."
The Pilot Feedback That Changed Everything
By mid-2024, we had a working beta version that we shared with about 50 friends and family members. Their feedback was illuminating and sometimes surprising:
Pros
- The tax integration saved me nearly ₹15,000 this year by optimizing my investments - IT Professional, Pune
- Finally a calculator that understands I'm saving for my sister's wedding, not just my own goals - Marketing Executive, Chennai
- The floating rate loan projection warned me about a potential rate shock I hadn't considered - Teacher, Delhi
- It helped me explain to my parents why gold shouldn't be our only investment - Recent Graduate, Hyderabad
Cons
- The interface was too complex for my parents to use independently - Manager, Mumbai
- Needed more guidance on what the results actually meant for my decisions - Government Employee, Bhopal
- Couldn't easily share calculations with my spouse - Doctor, Kolkata
- Wanted templates for common scenarios rather than starting from scratch - Business Owner, Ahmedabad
This feedback fundamentally changed our approach. We realized we weren't just building a calculator—we were creating a financial companion that needed to be accessible across generations and financial literacy levels.
One piece of feedback particularly struck us: "Your calculator is accurate but intimidating. I need a tool that gives me confidence, not just numbers." This comment led to our complete redesign focusing on simplicity and guidance.
Building for Real Indian Financial Journeys
After incorporating the feedback, we identified five distinct financial journeys common in India that our calculator needed to address:
The Young Professional's First Steps
Early career planners balancing education loans, first investments, and supporting family while building their own future.
The Family Foundation Builder
Mid-career professionals managing home loans, children's education savings, and growing investment portfolios.
The Sandwich Generation Planner
Those supporting both children and parents while trying to secure their own retirement, often with complex responsibilities.
The Business Family Organizer
Entrepreneurs and business families needing to separate business and personal finances while planning for succession.
The Retirement Transition Manager
Those nearing or in retirement, focusing on income generation, healthcare planning, and legacy considerations.
For each journey, we created specialized calculation modules and guidance pathways. The young professional might need help optimizing their first SIP while managing an education loan, while the sandwich generation planner might need tools for balancing parent healthcare costs with children's education.
The Technology Behind the Calculator
As we rebuilt the calculator with these journeys in mind, we focused on several key technological innovations:
Accuracy and Performance
High-precision calculation engine delivering instant results even for complex financial scenarios
Multi-scenario Modeling
Try different financial strategies side-by-side with interactive projection models
Modern and Easy UI
Intuitive interface with simplified controls that makes complex financial planning accessible
Privacy-First Design
Secure calculations performed locally without storing sensitive financial information
Our most challenging technical hurdle was creating a system that could handle the complexity of Indian financial rules while remaining accessible to users with varying levels of financial literacy. The solution came in the form of a layered interface—simple on the surface with the option to "go deeper" into more sophisticated parameters.
The biggest technical challenge wasn't the calculations themselves. It was figuring out how to present complex financial concepts in a way that feels intuitive. We ended up creating visualization tools that show the impact of decisions over time rather than just presenting numbers.
Our Vision Beyond Calculations
By early 2025, we had moved far beyond our original spreadsheet. Calqulation had evolved into our specialized EMI and SIP calculators that are now accessible to everyone. These calculators remain our core—the engines that power everything else.
Looking ahead, our vision extends beyond just calculations. We see Calqulation evolving in several ways:
CUSTOMIZABLE LOAN PLANNING
Advanced EMI Features
Our EMI calculator offers comprehensive features for accurate loan planning. You can model floating rate changes at specific points, add multiple prepayments throughout your loan, and even adjust your EMI amounts to see how these changes affect your loan closure timeline and interest savings.
INVESTMENT GROWTH VISUALIZATION
Smart SIP Planning
Our SIP calculator lets you visualize how your investments grow with regular step-ups matching your salary growth. Compare different investment frequencies, see the impact of inflation on your returns, and make more informed decisions with our interactive charts and yearly breakdowns.
But most importantly, we want Calqulation to remain true to its roots—a solution built specifically for Indian financial realities, addressing the unique challenges we face in our personal financial journeys.
Conclusion
From Personal Frustration to Public Solution
What began as a personal quest to make better home loan and SIP calculations has evolved into specialized tools that Indians now use daily. The journey from spreadsheet to Calqulation has taught us that truly effective financial tools must understand the real-world scenarios that Indian borrowers and investors face.
Key Takeaways:
- 1EMI calculators must account for floating rates and multiple prepayment options.
- 2SIP calculators should allow for regular step-ups that match salary growth patterns.
- 3The best financial decisions come from seeing detailed visualizations of different scenarios.
- 4Financial tools should be precise yet easy to use, offering both simplicity and depth.
That evening at my kitchen table surrounded by spreadsheets now feels like a distant memory. Yet it reminds me of why we built Calqulation—because financial decisions are too important to make with inadequate tools, especially when planning loans with floating rates and multiple prepayments or SIPs with increasing investments over time.
Our journey continues as India's financial system evolves. Our EMI calculator will help you plan your home loans with precision, accounting for prepayments and interest rate changes. Meanwhile, our SIP calculator will show you how your regular investments grow over time, with step-up options and inflation adjustments.
I'd love to hear about your experience with our calculators. Have they helped you make better financial decisions? Share in the comments below, and help us continue improving our tools to better serve your needs.
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