Templates & Samples
DSCR calculator
Compare cash available for debt service with the payments due, year by year. Start with a fictional three-year example and see where a cash shortfall appears.
Interactive learning tool
Enter the annual cash and debt payments
All amounts are in ₹ lakh. 1 lakh = ₹100,000. Ratios are shown in times (×), not percentages.
Use plain numbers without commas, with up to six decimal places. Negative CFADS is allowed; interest and principal must be zero or positive. Enter 0 where no payment is due.
The starting figures are fictional. Calculations update as you type. This calculator does not send or save your entries, or put them in URLs or analytics events.
3 of 30 years displayed. Keep at least one year.
Coverage results
Minimum annual DSCR
0.80×
Year 1
Aggregate coverage
1.40×
₹350 lakh total CFADS ÷ ₹250 lakh total debt service.
| Year | CFADS | Debt service | DSCR | Cash surplus / shortfall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | 80 | 10020 interest + 80 principal | 0.80× | Shortfall: ₹20 lakh |
| Year 2 | 180 | 10020 interest + 80 principal | 1.80× | Surplus: ₹80 lakh |
| Year 3 | 90 | 5010 interest + 40 principal | 1.80× | Surplus: ₹40 lakh |
Ratios display two decimal places. Shortfalls and minimum-year ties use the full entered precision: a ratio displayed as 1.00× can still have a cash shortfall.
Aggregate coverage is a ratio of totals, not an arithmetic average of annual ratios. It can hide a weak year and does not show whether cash is available when each payment falls due. These results are calculations, not a lender approval or covenant assessment.
What do the inputs mean?
- Cash available for debt service (CFADS)
- The cash amount available to meet the selected debt payments for that year, after the adjustments required by your agreed cash-flow methodology. Enter this explicitly from your project model. The calculator does not infer it from EBITDA, accounting profit or closing cash. Check the treatment of taxes, working capital, capital expenditure, reserves and other commitments; keep new borrowing, equity and reserve drawdowns separately visible in your model.
- Cash interest / finance charges due
- The cash interest and finance charges payable during the year for the debt included in the calculation. Use the payment schedule and agreed scope; do not substitute an interest rate or silently include charges belonging to another debt scope.
- Scheduled principal due
- The repayment of the amount borrowed that falls due in that year. Enter 0 in a principal moratorium year if interest is still due. An interest-only year can still have a calculable DSCR.
Use the same currency, time periods, cash-flow basis and debt scope throughout. An annual result can conceal a monthly payment mismatch. For an appointment or covenant test, agree the definition and period with the intended lender.
How the calculation works
Annual DSCR = entered CFADS ÷ positive annual debt service
Annual cash surplus / shortfall = CFADS − annual debt service
Aggregate coverage = total CFADS ÷ total debt service across the displayed years
The minimum is the lowest calculable annual ratio, with every tied year identified. A year with no debt service has an N/A ratio and is excluded from that minimum. Its cash is still included in aggregate coverage; if all debt service is zero, no ratio is calculated.
Aggregate coverage is not an arithmetic average of the annual ratios. It also does not establish that cash from one year is available to pay an obligation in another year. Negative CFADS indicates a cash deficit before these debt payments, so the cash shortfall can exceed the scheduled debt service. A displayed 1.00× means rounded mathematical coverage, not lender approval.
A fictional three-year example
The starting example enters CFADS of ₹80, ₹180 and ₹90 lakh; interest of ₹20, ₹20 and ₹10 lakh; and principal of ₹80, ₹80 and ₹40 lakh. Debt service is therefore ₹100, ₹100 and ₹50 lakh, giving annual ratios of 0.80×, 1.80× and 1.80×.
Year 1 has the minimum ratio of 0.80× and a ₹20 lakh shortfall. Aggregate coverage is ₹350 lakh ÷ ₹250 lakh = 1.40×. The stronger later years do not erase Year 1’s payment gap.
Try reducing Year 2 CFADS to ₹80 lakh: Years 1 and 2 then tie at 0.80×, while aggregate coverage becomes 1.00×. Reset the fictional example to restore the starting figures.
These are teaching figures, not a client case or lending benchmark. The solar guide’s operating-surplus example is not CFADS and is not used to fill this calculator. This tool does not size a loan, calculate investment returns, certify viability or issue an approval verdict.
Methodology sources and their limits
System Advisor Model: Single Owner financing describes annual debt-service coverage using cash available for debt service and principal plus interest. Its available-cash adjustments belong to that model; this calculator instead asks you to enter the CFADS amount from your agreed methodology.
RBI circular of 7 September 2020 (PDF) distinguishes relevant-year coverage from coverage over a loan period using its stated cash-accrual convention. It concerns the COVID-19 resolution framework. Its definitions and sector thresholds are not imported here as universal or current lending requirements.
Different lenders and mandates may use different cash-accrual adjustments, debt scopes and covenant requirements. Bitcon’s fictional TEV report states its own accounting-based convention; its numerator should not be silently substituted for the CFADS input here.