Lakh and Crore to Million and Billion: The Indian Number System Explained
One million is ten lakh. One billion is a hundred crore. Once you see where the commas go, the two systems line up neatly.
1 June 2026 · 6 min read · Reference
News from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal quotes budgets, salaries and property prices in lakhs and crores. Most of the rest of the world reads millions and billions. Both describe the same quantities. Only the grouping differs.
The two key numbers
- 1 lakh = 100,000 (one hundred thousand)
- 1 crore = 10,000,000 (ten million) = 100 lakh
Everything else follows from those two.
Quick reference
| Indian system | Written in India | International | Written internationally |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 thousand | 1,000 | 1 thousand | 1,000 |
| 1 lakh | 1,00,000 | 100 thousand | 100,000 |
| 10 lakh | 10,00,000 | 1 million | 1,000,000 |
| 1 crore | 1,00,00,000 | 10 million | 10,000,000 |
| 10 crore | 10,00,00,000 | 100 million | 100,000,000 |
| 100 crore (1 arab) | 1,00,00,00,000 | 1 billion | 1,000,000,000 |
| 1 lakh crore | 1,00,00,00,00,00,000 | 1 trillion | 1,000,000,000,000 |
Where the commas go
International notation groups digits in threes. The Indian system groups the last three digits, then every two digits after that.
- International: 12,345,678
- Indian: 1,23,45,678
Read the Indian form from the left: 1 crore, 23 lakh, 45 thousand, 678.
Mental shortcuts
Lakh to million: divide by 10. 25 lakh is 2.5 million.
Crore to million: multiply by 10. 3.5 crore is 35 million.
Billion to crore: multiply by 100. A $4 billion deal is 400 crore dollars, which is how Indian media often reports foreign figures.
Lakh crore to trillion: they are equal. A government budget of ₹50 lakh crore is ₹50 trillion.
Arab and kharab
Two older words sit above crore and still appear in Pakistan and Nepal:
- 1 arab = 100 crore = 1 billion
- 1 kharab = 100 arab = 100 billion
In India, "lakh crore" has largely replaced them in finance and the press.
Common mistakes
Reading 1,00,000 as a typo. It is the correct Indian way to write one lakh, not a misplaced comma.
Converting currency and scale at the same time. Convert the scale first (crore to million), then apply the exchange rate. Doing both at once is where errors creep in.
Confusing lakh (L) with litres or lac (resin). In financial documents "L" and "Lac" both mean lakh, and "Cr" means crore.
Try it
This article is for general information. Please verify figures against the relevant standard before using them in critical work. About accuracy