Rs 40,00,00,000 to retire in India? Dezerv's co-founder's statement leaves internet shocked, netizens call it 'mind boggling'

How much assets do you need to plan before retirement in India? The answer may vary from person to person, but an answer from Sandeep Jethwani, co-founder of wealth management firm Dezerv, has left the internet stunned. Sandeep Jethwani said a person needs Rs crore to retire at 60 if their expenses range between ₹1 to 2 lakh per month. He made the remarks while speaking on The Money Mindset podcast with journalist Sonia Shenoy.

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Rs 40 crore needed to retire at 60

During the conversation, Sonia Shenoy shared her personal monthly expenses as part of the discussion. “I am almost 40, and I have an expense of ₹2 lakh a month, give or take,” Shenoy said. “How much would I need to have in assets by the time I’m 60?”


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According to Sandeep Jethwani, if you are earning around ₹2 lakh per month today, are between 35–40 years old, and live in a metro city, you may need a retirement corpus of nearly ₹40 crore by the age of 60 to maintain your lifestyle. The IIM Bangalore-educated entrepreneur also added that the Rs 40 crore amount is "ex of the house you live in, ex of the car that you drive". This figure has now become a topic of discussion on social media.

“₹40 crore,” Sandeep Jethwani answered. “This is ex of the house you live in, ex of the car that you drive,” he told the journalist. The figure drew attention as it was much higher than what most people typically consider adequate for retirement savings. He also said that all kinds of expenses are included in the corpus.



"The full corpus. Whatever the amount to cover your future expenses, Rs 40 crore in India for a mid-size family will be a reasonable amount," he added.

Notably, Sonia Shenoy pointed out that 40 crore is a lot for someone who's starting fresh, adding that that even 1 crore is too much, given the salary structure of India. To this, Sandeep Jethwani did not deny and said, "It is very hard."

"The numbers feel overwhelming but the fact is If you are in the age group of 35- 40 and have expenses of 1-2 lakhs per month living in a metro in India today, you will need a corpus of 40 crores by the time you turn 60 years of age," the caption of the video read.

"In my opinion, If you spend 1-2 lakh/month today, You need roughly 10 crore by age 60 but Sandeep Jethwani my guest on the show tells me that inflation, lifestyle creep and unexpected health costs can inflate your retirement expenses much more than you think," Shenoy wrote as a follow-up in the comment section.

What Dezerv said

"The ₹40 crore number isn't a guess, it's arithmetic. Take a 40-year-old HNI spending ₹2 lakh a month today. At 9% inflation, which is the real rate for private healthcare, premium schooling, staff and travel, that becomes ₹11.2 lakh a month at 60, or ₹1.34 crore a year. Then plan for 30 years of retirement. People default to 75 or 80 because that's what national averages suggest, but those averages are dragged down by rural, lower-income, and infant mortality data. They have nothing to do with how long a healthy, urban, affluent Indian actually lives. Thirty years of ₹1.34 crore is ₹40 crore. The reassuring part: at 12% pre-retirement returns, ₹40 crore at 60 is just ₹4.2 crore in today's money. Nobody flinches at ₹4.2 crore as a retirement target. This isn't a scary-number story, it's an inflation and compounding story."

Social media reaction

The statement triggered a debate on social media because median salaries in India are far lower. "He has been saying weird things over the years as he has to sell his product...there are so many better alternatives in the market," said a user. "Dude, we have no chance then. Jeez!," commented another.

"He gave a random ans to get eyeballs. If your mthly exp is 2L. FF to 20 years, it will be 8L w/ 7% inflation. You need arnd 1 cr on a yearly. So 25-30cr in debt + other instruments w/ a combined 3-5% of post tax returns on it. monthly SIP of 2.5L @ 11-12% return can reach there," another commented.

"Mind-boggling numbers. But learning from your videos, they don't seem impossible," one user wrote in the comment section.

"It is a mere calculation and not practically going to be received. I never believed. sip in mutual fund," another user wrote.