PMS Fee Calculator: Fixed, Hybrid and Performance Fees in Rupees

This PMS fee calculator shows what a portfolio manager’s fee costs in rupees over five years, under a fixed fee, a hybrid fee or a performance-only fee. Enter your amount, the fee terms from the PMS agreement and a return for each year. The tool then shows the fees, the closing value and the net annual return.

A fee quoted as 2.5% sounds small. On ₹1 crore growing at 15% a year, the calculator puts five years of fixed fees, GST and expenses at ₹21.03 lakh. The same portfolio under a performance-only fee pays ₹8.81 lakh. With a strong 25% a year, the order flips.

The notes below the tool explain each input, how the PMS fee calculator works out every year, and what it leaves out. Figures are as of October 2026.

What the PMS fee calculator works out each year

The tool runs the same five steps for each of the five years. Knowing them helps you match its output to a manager’s fee statement.

1. It grows the opening value by your return for that year to get the gross closing value.
2. It charges the management fee and other expenses on the average of the opening and gross closing values.
3. It sets a hurdle at the high-water mark plus the hurdle rate. The performance fee is your share rate on any gross value above that line.
4. It adds 18% GST to the management and performance fees, then deducts all costs to reach the net closing value.
5. If the net closing value is a new high, that value becomes the high-water mark for the next year.

The fifth step matters more than it looks. The tool lifts the high-water mark to every new year-end high, even in a year with no performance fee. The next year’s hurdle then starts from that higher base. Managers use different conventions, so check how yours resets the mark.

The summary boxes show total wealth after five years, total fees paid, the share of value lost to fees and the net CAGR. Net CAGR is the yearly return that turns your starting amount into the final value after all fees.

Matching the inputs to your PMS agreement

Each input maps to a line in the fee schedule. Enter the terms exactly as the agreement states them.

SEBI caps operating expenses at 0.5% a year, excluding brokerage, so you can test the upper end. Brokerage is charged at actual cost. A strategy that trades often will cost more than the default input suggests. Kalviro’s guide to the PMS fee structure explains the hurdle, the high-water mark and crystallisation in more detail.

PMS fee calculator results on ₹50 lakh, ₹1 crore and ₹5 crore

We ran the calculator’s defaults at a steady 15% a year: 2.5% fixed; 1.5% plus 20% above a 10% hurdle for hybrid; 20% above 10% for performance only; 0.15% other expenses; 18% GST.

Kalviro calculation using the calculator’s formula; before exit load, brokerage beyond 0.15% and tax. Gross value without fees: ₹1.01 crore, ₹2.01 crore and ₹10.06 crore.

The net CAGR is identical at every size, because the tool applies the same rates to any amount. Fees in rupees scale in step: ₹5 crore pays ten times what ₹50 lakh pays. Some managers offer lower fee rates on larger accounts. If yours does, enter the lower rate.

The hybrid and fixed models land close together at 15%. On ₹1 crore, the hybrid’s fixed fee is ₹1.27 lakh lower in year one, GST included. Its 20% share of gains above the hurdle takes most of that back.

How the return path changes the cheapest fee model

The same ₹1 crore gives a different ranking under each return path. We ran four through the PMS fee calculator.

Five-year fees including GST and 0.15% other expenses. Kalviro calculation.

At 8% the portfolio never clears the 10% hurdle. The performance-only account pays just the 0.15% expenses, while the fixed fee costs ₹17.74 lakh.

The choppy path shows the high-water mark at work. The performance-only account pays ₹3.00 lakh of performance fee in year one. It then pays none for three years, because the value never clears 10% above its last high. The fee returns in year five at ₹1.37 lakh.

At 25% a year, the order reverses. The performance-only model costs ₹1.57 lakh more than the fixed fee. The hybrid costs most of all, at ₹41.84 lakh, because it pays both a fixed fee and a profit share on a large excess.

Why a 2.5% fixed fee costs more than 2.5% a year

Run the default fixed model on ₹1 crore and year one shows ₹3.33 lakh in costs, not ₹2.5 lakh. Three things add to the headline rate.

The fee runs on the average value for the year, ₹1.075 crore, so 2.5% comes to ₹2,68,750. GST at 18% adds ₹48,375. Other expenses at 0.15% add ₹16,125. A 15% gross year becomes 11.67% net, a drag of 3.33 percentage points.

That gap compounds. Over five years at 15%, the gross portfolio reaches ₹2.01 crore and the fixed-fee portfolio ₹1.74 crore. The ₹27.5 lakh difference exceeds the ₹21.03 lakh of fees, because money paid in fees no longer earns returns.

What the PMS fee calculator leaves out

The tool models the fee schedule and nothing else. Four costs sit outside it.

Exit load. A PMS has no lock-in, but the manager may charge an exit load. The SEBI circular of 13 February 2020 caps it at 3% in year one, 2% in year two and 1% in year three. Nothing applies after that. On ₹1 crore withdrawn in month eleven, the maximum is ₹3 lakh.

Tax. The shares sit in your own demat account, so you pay capital gains tax on each sale the manager makes. A strategy with high turnover creates more short-term gains. The calculator shows returns before tax.

Brokerage. The other-expenses input covers running costs. Brokerage is charged at actual cost and varies with turnover. If the disclosure document gives a past figure, add it to the other-expenses input.

Cash flows. The tool assumes one amount invested on day one and nothing added or withdrawn. A top-up may start its own high-water mark. Ask the manager how they treat it.

SEBI does not allow upfront fees on a PMS, so the calculator has no input for them.

Using the PMS fee calculator to compare two offers

Run each manager’s fee option on the same amount and the same return path. Then change only the returns. A fee model that looks cheap at 15% can look expensive at 25%, as the table above shows.

Three runs give a fair picture: a flat year at 8%, a steady 15% and a strong 25%. Add one path with a loss year to test the high-water mark. Keep the other-expenses input the same for both managers, unless one discloses a higher figure.

Fees are one input. A strategy’s record against its own benchmark, its holdings and its drawdowns matter as much. Kalviro’s note on PMS performance metrics covers how to read them. For a first account at the ₹50 lakh minimum, the ₹50 lakh PMS guide works the numbers through.

PMS fee calculator questions investors ask

Do I need to sign up to use the PMS fee calculator? No. It runs in your browser and remembers your last inputs on the same device.

Does the calculator include GST? Yes. It adds 18% GST to the management fee and the performance fee. It doesn’t add GST to the other-expenses input.

Why does the hurdle stay the same when returns change? The hurdle is a fee term, not a return. Enter the figure from your agreement. The tool applies it to the high-water mark each year.

Can I model a loss year? Yes. Enter a negative return in any year, such as −10. The tool charges no performance fee that year and holds the high-water mark at the previous high.

Which fee model is cheapest? It depends on returns. In our runs on ₹1 crore, the performance-only model cost least at 8%, 15% and on the choppy path. At 25% a year, the fixed fee cost least.

Is a PMS fee the same as a mutual fund expense ratio? No. A mutual fund deducts its expense ratio from the NAV daily. A PMS bills fees to your account, and the performance fee depends on your own account’s gains. Kalviro’s portfolio management services page sets out how the account works.

A PMS fee is a bet on the shape of future returns as much as a price. Fixed fees cost the most in flat years, performance fees cost the most in strong ones, and the hybrid can cost the most of all when returns run well above the hurdle. Run your own amount through all three before you sign.