Question 1

What is XIRR and why is it important for Indian investors?

Accepted Answer

XIRR (Extended Internal Rate of Return) is the most accurate way to measure investment returns when you invest at irregular intervals. Unlike CAGR, XIRR accounts for the exact timing of every deposit and withdrawal, idle cash in your broker account, all transaction charges like STT and brokerage, and dividend income. It gives you one honest annualised return — the number your broker does not show you.

Question 2

What is the difference between XIRR and CAGR?

Accepted Answer

CAGR assumes you invested all your money on a single day and never touched it again. It only looks at your starting and ending value. XIRR is designed for real-world investing — where you add money regularly, withdraw sometimes, and keep cash idle in your account. XIRR gives each rupee its own start date, so the return reflects how long each rupee was actually invested. For anyone investing regularly in Indian stocks, XIRR is the only metric that makes sense.

Question 3

Why does XIRR Ledger show a lower return than my broker?

Accepted Answer

Brokers show inflated XIRR for three reasons: they ignore idle cash before you buy a stock, they exclude STT, DP charges, brokerage, GST and stamp duty from the calculation, and they only show returns for their platform. XIRR Ledger reads your actual cash ledger where every rupee in, every rupee out, and every fee is captured. The number you see is what you actually earned.

Question 4

Which brokers are currently supported?

Accepted Answer

XIRR Ledger currently supports Zerodha (XLSX format, one file covers all years), Groww (PDF format, password is your PAN in uppercase), and Fyers (CSV format, one file per financial year). You can upload files from all three brokers in the same session for a combined XIRR.

Question 5

Does XIRR Ledger support mutual funds?

Accepted Answer

No. XIRR Ledger is built specifically for equity investing through broker accounts — Zerodha, Groww, and Fyers. Mutual fund investments use a different cash flow structure and are not supported at this time.

Question 6

Is XIRR Ledger free to use?

Accepted Answer

Yes, completely free. No subscription, no credit card, no hidden charges. Sign in with Google or email OTP, upload your ledger files, and get your XIRR. A detailed PDF report is automatically emailed to you after every calculation.

Question 7

What is the Nifty 50 benchmark comparison and how is it calculated?

Accepted Answer

The Nifty 50 comparison simulates investing the exact same amounts on the exact same dates into Nifty 50 instead of stocks. XIRR Ledger fetches historical Nifty 50 price data and calculates what your return would have been with index investing. This is the fairest possible benchmark — same money, same timing, different investment. If your XIRR is higher, you are genuinely beating the index.

Question 8

How are STT and brokerage charges handled?

Accepted Answer

STT, DP charges, brokerage, GST, SEBI fees and stamp duty are all deducted from your broker ledger balance on every trade. When XIRR Ledger reads your ledger, these deductions are automatically included as cash outflows. You do not need to enter charges manually — they are already in the ledger.

Question 9

What does a negative XIRR mean?

Accepted Answer

A negative XIRR means your portfolio has lost value in annualised terms — the current value is less than what you invested, accounting for timing. This can happen during broad market downturns. Compare your XIRR with the Nifty 50 XIRR shown alongside — if Nifty is also negative, the market itself is down, not just your stock picks.

Question 10

Can I combine multiple broker accounts?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Upload files from multiple brokers or multiple accounts in one session. The calculator identifies each account automatically, calculates individual XIRR per account, and gives you a single combined XIRR with a capital distribution breakdown and account comparison table in the PDF report.

Question 11

How long does the calculation take?

Accepted Answer

Usually 20–40 seconds from the moment you click Calculate. The backend processes all your transactions, fetches historical Nifty 50 data for the exact same cash flow dates, and runs the XIRR computation. The PDF report is emailed to you automatically once processing is complete. Larger files with many years of history may take up to 60 seconds.

Question 12

How do I download my ledger from Zerodha?

Accepted Answer

Log in to Zerodha Console and open the Account Statement page. Select All Segments as the category and set the date range from your very first investment to today. Click the download arrow and select XLSX format. One file covers all your years with no password required. For dividend income, go to Console → Reports → Downloads → Dividend Statement and download one file per financial year.

Question 13

How do I download my ledger from Groww?

Accepted Answer

Method 1 (recommended for history from April 2023 onward): Open Groww Reports, scroll to Transactions → Groww Balance Statement, select PDF format, set the date range and download. Method 2 (for history before April 2023): Open Groww Balance, click All Transactions → Download statement, select a date range of maximum one year and repeat for each year. The password for all Groww PDFs is your PAN number in uppercase — for example, ABCDE1234F.

Question 14

How do I download my ledger from Fyers?

Accepted Answer

Log in to Fyers and open the Ledger page under Reports. Select the Financial Year, click Generate and then Download CSV. Repeat for all years from your first investment. No password required — one CSV file per financial year.

Question 15

What does the PDF report contain?

Accepted Answer

The PDF has four sections: Portfolio Summary (your XIRR, first investment date, investment period, total invested, total withdrawn, current value, dividend income, and net gain/loss), Nifty 50 Comparison (your XIRR vs Nifty XIRR, performance gap, and how much more or less you made compared to the index), Individual Account Analysis (capital distribution across your accounts, profit/loss per account, and a detailed breakdown for each account including XIRR), and Account Comparison Table (all accounts side by side with a combined total row). The report is automatically emailed to you after every calculation.

Question 16

How is idle cash in my broker account handled?

Accepted Answer

When you transfer money to your broker account, that is a real cash outflow — you moved it from a savings account where it earned interest to a broker account where it earns nothing until you invest. XIRR Ledger treats every bank transfer as a cash outflow on that exact date. If money sat idle for 3 weeks before you bought a stock, those 3 weeks count against your return. This is why our XIRR is often lower than your broker shows — brokers start the clock when you buy, not when you transfer. You also enter your current available cash balance separately, which is added to the final portfolio value.

Question 17

Is my data safe? Do you store my financial information?

Accepted Answer

Your ledger files are uploaded to a secure AWS S3 bucket over HTTPS and processed on our servers. Files are deleted after processing is complete. We do not store individual transaction data. Your email is used only to send the PDF report — we will never use it for marketing or spam. No registration is required; you sign in with Google or email OTP only.

Question 18

What if my XIRR seems too high or too low?

Accepted Answer

Check three things: Holdings value — make sure you entered the current live market value of your portfolio, not the invested value. Cash balance — add the available cash in your broker account, as this is part of your current portfolio value. Ledger date range — make sure your ledger covers from your very first deposit to today, not just the last year. If all inputs look correct, the number is likely accurate. A low XIRR is often genuine — most retail investors underperform the index over 3–5 years after accounting for charges and idle cash.

Question 19

The password for my Groww PDF is not working. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

The password is your PAN number. Make sure all letters are UPPERCASE — for example ABCDE1234F, not abcde1234f. Use the full 10-character PAN with no spaces. If it still does not work, try downloading the file again as Groww sometimes generates a corrupted PDF. If the issue persists, use the alternative download method — the yearly statement instead of the combined one.

Question 20

Why is ledger-based calculation more accurate than manual entry?

Accepted Answer

Most XIRR calculators ask you to manually enter each transaction date and amount. This fails because manual errors directly corrupt the result, people forget transactions like partial withdrawals and quarterly charges, and entering hundreds of transactions for a multi-year portfolio is impractical. Your broker ledger has every transaction recorded with exact dates and amounts. Uploading it takes 30 seconds and gives a mathematically complete calculation with no guesswork or missing entries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Understanding XIRR

Using the Calculator

Results & Reports

Privacy & Security

Troubleshooting

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