Loan Tenure Calculator
Loan Tenure Calculator
Know the EMI you can afford? Find how many months it takes to repay a loan at that EMI, the total interest, and the lowest EMI that repays the loan at all.
Loan tenure
A loan of $10,00,000 at 9%, repaid at $12,000 a month
Months from the EMI
- P
- the loan amount
- r
- the monthly rate: annual rate ÷ 12 ÷ 100
- n
- the months, rounded up to a whole payment. There is no answer when EMI ≤ r × P: the EMI then pays only interest, or less, and the loan never repays.
Worked example
A loan of $10,00,000 at 9%, repaid at $12,000 a month
r = 9 ÷ 1200 = 0.0075; first month's interest = $7,500, below the EMI, so the loan repays
r × P ÷ EMI = 0.0075 × 10,00,000 ÷ 12,000 = 0.625
n = −ln(1 − 0.625) ÷ ln(1.0075) = 131.27 → 132 months (11 years)
The last payment is $3,213; total interest $5,75,213
10,00,000 at 9%: tenure by EMI
| EMI | Months | Years | Total interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| $8,000 | 372 | 31.0 | $19,68,506 |
| $9,000 | 240 | 20.0 | $11,58,170 |
| $10,000 | 186 | 15.5 | $8,55,325 |
| $12,000 | 132 | 11.0 | $5,75,213 |
| $15,000 | 93 | 7.8 | $3,91,497 |
| $20,000 | 63 | 5.2 | $2,58,044 |
Working back from the EMI you can afford
Lenders usually start from a tenure and give you an EMI. Many borrowers think the other way round: they know what they can pay each month and want to know how long that takes. The answer comes from the same loan formula solved for the number of months, which needs a logarithm. The count is rounded up to whole payments, with a smaller final one.
There is a hard floor. In the first month the interest is the whole loan times the monthly rate — $7,500 on the example. An EMI at or below that pays only interest, or not even that, so the balance never falls and the loan is never repaid; the calculator then shows no answer. Just above the floor the tenure is very sensitive: the table shows $8,000 a month taking 372 months, while $10,000 takes 186.
A longer tenure is not free. Every extra year is a year of interest on the balance, so a low EMI can cost far more in total. Lenders also cap tenure by age and product, and on a floating-rate loan a rate rise usually lengthens the tenure rather than raising the EMI — this page shows how far that can go. If you know the tenure and want the EMI, use the EMI calculator; to see what you could borrow from your income, the home loan eligibility calculator.
The chart shows the balance falling and interest paid building up. In the example the loan is gone within 11 years. This is arithmetic on the figures you enter, not financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate loan tenure from EMI?
Months = −ln(1 − r × P ÷ EMI) ÷ ln(1 + r), with r the monthly rate. $10,00,000 at 9% repaid at $12,000 takes 132 months.
What is the minimum EMI that repays a loan?
Anything above the first month’s interest, loan × annual rate ÷ 1200 — $7,500 on $10,00,000 at 9%. Just above it, the tenure runs to decades.
Why does the calculator show nothing?
Because the EMI does not cover the first month’s interest, so the balance never falls. Raise the EMI or lower the loan amount.
Does a rate rise change my tenure?
On floating-rate loans lenders often keep the EMI and extend the tenure. Enter the new rate with your current EMI and outstanding balance to see the new tenure.
Related calculators
References
- Brealey RA, Myers SC, Allen F. Principles of Corporate Finance. McGraw-Hill. The present value of an annuity, from which the level-payment loan formula and its inverse for the number of payments follow.
- Reserve Bank of India. Reset of Floating Interest Rate on Equated Monthly Instalments (EMI) based Personal Loans. RBI/2023-24/55, 18 August 2023.