In this article
A salary is “12 lakh”, a company’s revenue is “450 crore”, and a foreign news article calls the same amount “1.2 million” and “4.5 billion”. Indian numbers are grouped differently, so the commas fall in different places and the names do not match. A quick method and one conversion table fix almost every case, and a tool can reformat a whole column of numbers at once.
How the commas work
- Comma after the first 3 digits from the right
- Then after every 2 digits
- Reads: twelve lakh thirty-four thousand five hundred sixty-seven
- Comma after every 3 digits
- Reads: one million two hundred thirty-four thousand five hundred sixty-seven
- Used in most countries and in most software by default
Both are the same value. Only the grouping and the names change.
- 1Ones, tens, hundredsThe last three digits, then the first comma.
- 2ThousandsThe next two digits. 12,345 is twelve thousand three hundred forty-five.
- 3LakhsThe next two digits. 12,34,567 has 12 lakh.
- 4CroresThe next two. 1,23,45,678 has 1 crore 23 lakh.
- 5Arab and beyondThen 100 crore is an arab, and 100 arab is a kharab, though these are rarely written out.
Names: thousand, lakh, crore, arab, kharab. In practice, almost everything you will see tops out at crore.
Lakh and crore to million and billion
| Indian | Number | International |
|---|---|---|
| 1 thousand | 1,000 | 1 thousand |
| 1 lakh | 1,00,000 | 100 thousand, or 0.1 million |
| 10 lakh | 10,00,000 | 1 million |
| 1 crore | 1,00,00,000 | 10 million |
| 10 crore | 10,00,00,000 | 100 million |
| 100 crore | 1,00,00,00,000 | 1 billion |
| 1,000 crore | 10,00,00,00,000 | 10 billion |
| 1 lakh crore | 1,00,00,00,00,000 | 1 trillion |
A lakh crore, a phrase common in Indian budgets, is 10¹², which is one trillion.
To go from lakh to million, divide by 10. From crore to million, multiply by 10. From crore to billion, divide by 100.
A worked example: a news item says a company raised 2.5 billion dollars. That is 250 crore dollars, or 25,000 lakh. A budget says ₹3 lakh crore. That is ₹3,00,000 crore, which is ₹3 trillion.
Format a list in one go
The tool takes one number per line, ignores commas you have already typed, and gives you the same list formatted three ways:
| You type | Indian | International | Short form |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1234567 | 12,34,567 | 1,234,567 | 12.35 lakh |
| 98765432.5 | 9,87,65,432.5 | 98,765,432.5 | 9.88 crore |
| 150000 | 1,50,000 | 150,000 | 1.5 lakh |
The short form rounds to two decimals. Use the full form where exact figures matter, such as invoices and cheques.
Indian grouping in Excel and Google Sheets
- Google Sheets: set the spreadsheet locale to India (File, Settings, Locale). Numbers then group the Indian way.
- Excel: if your Windows region is set to English (India), Excel groups the Indian way. Otherwise a custom format such as
[>=10000000]##\,##\,##\,##0;[>=100000]##\,##\,##0;##,##0shows lakh and crore grouping for most numbers. - Do not type the commas. Enter a plain number and let the format add them, so that formulas still work.
- Exported text can lose the format. If you paste numbers into a text field, format them with the tool first.
Where the format matters
- Cheques and invoices need the amount in figures and words. See how to write numbers in words for cheques and invoices.
- Salary. A package of 12 lakh is 12,00,000. See CTC to in-hand salary.
- Investing. ₹1 crore targets and corpus sizes are in the 25x rule guide and the SWP guide.
- Loans. Home loan figures such as 50 lakh appear in the EMI guide and the loan amortization guide.
- Big comparisons. The percent versus percentage points guide and the inflation guide work with large numbers daily.
- Biodata and forms. Income is usually written in lakh, such as ₹9 lakh per annum, as in the marriage biodata guide.
Questions people ask
How many lakhs make 1 crore?
100 lakh make 1 crore. 1 lakh is 1,00,000, and 1 crore is 1,00,00,000.
1 crore me kitne million hote hain?
1 crore 10 million ke barabar hota hai. Aur 1 million 10 lakh ke barabar hota hai.
How much is 1 billion in crore?
1 billion is 100 crore, written 1,00,00,00,000. 1 trillion is 1 lakh crore.
How are commas placed in the Indian number system?
The first comma goes after the last three digits from the right, and then a comma goes after every two digits. So 1234567 is written 12,34,567.
How do I write 1 crore in numbers?
1,00,00,000 in the Indian format, or 10,000,000 in the international format.
What is the Indian number format in Excel?
Set your system region to English (India), or use a custom number format that groups digits as lakh and crore. Enter plain numbers and let the format add the commas.
How many zeros are in a lakh and a crore?
A lakh has five zeros (1,00,000) and a crore has seven zeros (1,00,00,000).
How many lakh is 1 million?
1 million is 10 lakh, written 10,00,000 in the Indian format.