Definition of Step-Up SIP
A Step-Up SIP (also called a Top-Up SIP) is a variant of the regular SIP where you commit to increasing your monthly investment by a fixed percentage or fixed amount every year, aligned with salary growth or increasing savings capacity.
For example, starting a ₹10,000/month SIP with a 10% annual step-up means your SIP becomes ₹11,000 in year 2, ₹12,100 in year 3, and so on. The compounding effect of both increasing investment and compound returns creates dramatically higher corpus — a ₹10,000 Step-Up SIP over 15 years can yield nearly 70% more than a flat ₹10,000 SIP at the same return.
Step-Up SIP is supported by most mutual fund apps (Zerodha Coin, Groww, ET Money, Kuvera). It is one of the most underused but powerful wealth-creation strategies for salaried investors whose income grows over time.