What lakh and crore mean
Lakh and crore are Indian words for large numbers. One lakh is 1,00,000, which is one hundred thousand. One crore is 1,00,00,000, which is one hundred lakh, or ten million.
You’ll see them everywhere in India: salary offers, property prices, loan amounts, news about budgets. Hindi uses the same words (लाख and करोड़), and so do most Indian languages.
How Indian commas work
The international system puts a comma after every three digits: 100,000. The Indian system puts the first comma after three digits from the right, and then after every two digits.
| Amount | Indian style | International style | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| One thousand | 1,000 | 1,000 | one thousand |
| One lakh | 1,00,000 | 100,000 | one hundred thousand |
| Ten lakh | 10,00,000 | 1,000,000 | one million |
| One crore | 1,00,00,000 | 10,000,000 | ten million |
| Hundred crore | 1,00,00,00,000 | 1,000,000,000 | one billion |
A quick way to read a long number: count the digits. One lakh has 6 digits (a 1 and five zeros), and one crore has 8 digits (a 1 and seven zeros). Then read from the left. ₹12,50,000 is “twelve lakh fifty thousand”. ₹2,35,00,000 is “two crore thirty-five lakh”.
Converting to million and billion
- Lakh to million: divide by 10. ₹12.5 lakh is ₹1.25 million.
- Crore to million: multiply by 10. ₹2.35 crore is ₹23.5 million.
- Million to lakh: multiply by 10. ₹3 million is ₹30 lakh.
- Billion to crore: multiply by 100. ₹1 billion is ₹100 crore.
Short forms you will see
- L, lac or lakh: “₹5L” or “₹5 lac” means ₹5,00,000.
- Cr: “₹1.2 Cr” means ₹1,20,00,000.
- LPA (lakh per annum): used on job offers for yearly pay, usually CTC (cost to company, the employer’s total yearly spend on you). “9 LPA” means ₹9,00,000 a year. That is ₹75,000 a month of CTC, and your take-home will be lower. Our page on CTC shows how much lower.
- K: “₹45K” means ₹45,000. It is not an Indian unit, but apps and job sites use it.
In speech, people also use fractions. “Dedh lakh” means 1.5 lakh (₹1,50,000). “Dhai lakh” is 2.5 lakh (₹2,50,000), “sawa lakh” is 1.25 lakh (₹1,25,000) and “paune do lakh” is 1.75 lakh (₹1,75,000).
Common mistakes
- Missing a zero. ₹1,50,000 (1.5 lakh) and ₹15,000 are easy to mix up on a small phone screen. Read the commas, not just the digits.
- Losing track of the comma places. Count the digits instead: 6 or 7 digits means lakhs, 8 or 9 means crores.
- Mixing systems in one sheet. If a form or spreadsheet uses international commas, write 1,000,000, not 10,00,000.
- Writing a cheque in words wrongly. In India you write “Rupees One Lakh Twenty Thousand Only” for ₹1,20,000.
What to check
- Before you pay, borrow or sign, read the amount aloud in lakh or crore.
- If an offer says “LPA”, divide by 12 and remember that this is CTC, not take-home.
- When a document mixes lakh and million, convert one of them so both use the same unit.
To turn a CTC in lakh per annum into a monthly take-home, try the Salary calculator.