Lakh, Crore, Million and Billion: How the Indian Number System Converts

India counts in lakhs and crores, most of the world in millions and billions. Mix them up and a salary, a company's revenue or a budget figure is off by a factor of ten. Here's how the two systems line up, how to place the commas, and quick ways to convert in your head.

The two systems side by side

Where the commas go

The international system puts a comma every three digits. The Indian system puts the first comma after three digits from the right, then every two digits. The same number looks like this:

4,56,78,912 (Indian) = 45,678,912 (international)

• Indian: four crore fifty-six lakh seventy-eight thousand nine hundred twelve.
• International: forty-five million six hundred seventy-eight thousand nine hundred twelve.

Quick conversions in your head

• Lakh to million: divide by 10. 25 lakh = 2.5 million.
• Crore to million: multiply by 10. 4.5 crore = 45 million.
• Crore to billion: divide by 100. 2,500 crore = 25 billion.
• Lakh crore to trillion: 1 lakh crore = 1 trillion. A ₹50 lakh crore budget is ₹50 trillion.

Writing amounts in words

Cheques and legal documents use the Indian system in words. 1,25,050.5 is written: Rupees One Lakh Twenty-Five Thousand Fifty and Fifty Paise Only. The number to words converter writes any amount both ways.

Other words you may see

Arab (100 crore, 1 billion) and kharab (100 arab) appear in older Hindi texts but are rarely used today. Newspapers write "1 lakh crore" instead. Shorthand like Cr and L (or Lac) is common in salary offers: "12 LPA" means ₹12 lakh per annum.