# Emergency Fund Calculator: How Many Months to Keep > Emergency fund calculator for India. Get a target from your expenses, EMIs, job stability and dependants, the monthly saving needed and where to park it. Source: https://trykosh.com/tools/emergency-fund-calculator Free tool - Budgeting and planning # Emergency fund calculator: how much cash should you keep aside? An emergency fund pays the bills if your income stops or a big unplanned cost lands. This calculator sizes yours from your essential spending, EMIs and how steady your income is, and shows a simple way to park it. Rules checked 25 October 2026Free - no sign-upRuns in your browser Emergency fund to aim for INR 5,20,000 8 months of essentials and EMIs at INR 65,000 a month You cover now**2.3 months** Still to build**INR 3,70,000** Save each month**INR 30,833** Already set aside **INR 1,50,000**Still to build **INR 3,70,000** Base for your income type 6 months Extra for dependants 1 month Extra for a single-income home 1 month Extra without own health cover 0 months Months to keep (capped at 12) 8 months One way to park it Layer Amount Why Savings account INR 65,000 One month, usable the same hour by UPI or card Sweep-in or short FDs INR 2,27,500 Earns FD interest, breaks automatically when you need it Liquid or overnight debt fund INR 2,27,500 Usually redeemed by the next working day; returns not guaranteed At INR 30,833 a month you'd be fully covered in 12 months. ## Upload your statement and Kosh does this for you. Upload a bank statement and Kosh builds this from your real spending: every UPI payment, EMI and subscription, sorted and priced. [Start free](/signup?via=tool-emergency-fund-calculator) ## How the emergency fund calculator works Begin with essential monthly expenses only: rent, groceries, utilities, school fees, insurance premiums and medicines. Leave out eating out, shopping and holidays, because in a real emergency those stop. Add your EMIs separately, since lenders expect them to continue whether or not you have a job. The number of months depends on how quickly you could replace your income. A government or PSU job starts at 3 months, a private salaried job at 6, a start-up, sales or contract role at 8 and self-employed or freelance income at 9. The calculator then adds a month for every two dependants (up to 3 extra), one if yours is the only income at home and one if your family has no health insurance of its own. The total is capped at 12 months. Target = months x (essential expenses + EMIs). The calculator subtracts what you have already set aside and spreads the gap over the number of months you choose, so you get a monthly saving figure you can automate. Where to keep it matters as much as how much. The money must be safe and reachable within a day, not chasing returns. One common layering: one month in a savings account for instant access, half the rest in sweep-in or short fixed deposits that break automatically, and the remainder in a liquid or overnight debt fund that usually pays out by the next working day. Emergency fund = months of cover x (essential monthly expenses + EMIs) Months of cover 3 to 9 by income stability, plus extras for dependants, a single income and no health cover, capped at 12 ## Worked example: Imran, freelance designer in Indore Imran's essentials come to INR 40,000 a month and he pays an INR 8,000 two-wheeler and laptop EMI. As a freelancer he starts at 9 months, gets one more for his wife and mother and one for being the only earner: 11 months in all. His target is INR 5,28,000. The INR 1 lakh he already has covers just 2.1 months, so he needs INR 4,28,000 more, or INR 23,778 a month to get there in 18 months. Emergency fund to aim for INR 5,28,000 11 months of essentials and EMIs at INR 48,000 a month You cover now**2.1 months** Still to build**INR 4,28,000** Save each month**INR 23,778** Already set aside **INR 1,00,000**Still to build **INR 4,28,000** Base for your income type 9 months Extra for dependants 1 month Extra for a single-income home 1 month Extra without own health cover 0 months Months to keep (capped at 12) 11 months At INR 23,778 a month you'd be fully covered in 18 months. [Load this example into the calculator ->](?essentials=40000&emis=8000&job=self&existing=100000&buildMonths=18#calculator) ## Good to know - Employer health cover isn't enough on its own: it ends the day you leave the job, which is exactly when you might be dipping into this fund. - SEBI lets liquid and overnight funds offer instant redemption of up to INR 50,000 a day (or 90% of the holding, if lower), credited the same day. Larger redemptions usually arrive the next working day. - FD interest is taxed at your slab rate, and banks deduct TDS once interest crosses INR 50,000 a year (INR 1 lakh for seniors). Keep that in mind when splitting the fund across deposits. - A credit card or a personal loan is not an emergency fund. Card interest of 36-48% a year can turn a three-month job gap into a two-year debt. - Add a nominee to every account and deposit holding the fund, and tell your spouse where it is. ## Frequently asked questions How much emergency fund should I have in India? Six months of essential expenses plus EMIs is the usual starting point for a salaried person in the private sector. Government employees can keep less; freelancers, business owners and single-income families should keep 9 to 12 months. Where should I keep my emergency fund? Somewhere safe and quick to reach: a savings account for the first month, then sweep-in or short fixed deposits and liquid or overnight debt funds for the rest. Avoid equity funds, long lock-in products and anything that charges a big penalty to exit. Should I invest my emergency fund in mutual funds? Only in liquid or overnight debt funds, which hold very short-term debt and can usually be redeemed within a day. Equity funds can fall 20-30% in exactly the kind of downturn that causes job losses, so they are a poor home for emergency money. Should I build an emergency fund or pay off debt first? Build a small buffer of one to two months first, then attack high-interest debt such as credit cards, then finish the full emergency fund. Without any buffer, the next surprise expense goes straight back on the card. Does an emergency fund include health insurance? No, they do different jobs. Health insurance covers large hospital bills; the emergency fund covers living costs, deductibles, co-payments and expenses the policy excludes. Without health cover you need a bigger fund, which is why the calculator adds a month. ## Sources and assumptions - [SEBI investor education](https://investor.sebi.gov.in/) - [Reserve Bank of India](https://www.rbi.org.in/) Rules and rates last checked on 25 October 2026. Results are estimates for planning and education, not tax, legal or investment advice. Kosh is an educational financial planning tool by Primedepth Labs. It is not a SEBI-registered investment adviser and does not offer personalised investment advice, hold your money or execute trades. 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