NumbersThe Indian number system: lakhs and crores
India and its neighbours, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, count large numbers in lakhs and crores. School books call this the Indian system of numeration. Newspapers, budgets, bank papers and everyday talk in India all use it, so every child needs to read and write it without stopping to think.
The place values
From the right, the places are ones, tens and hundreds, exactly as everywhere else. After that the system changes: each new name comes after two more digits, not three.
| Ten crores | Crores | Ten lakhs | Lakhs | Ten thousands | Thousands | Hundreds | Tens | Ones |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
The number shown is 54,32,16,789.
One lakh is a hundred thousand: 1 followed by 5 zeros. One crore is a hundred lakh: 1 followed by 7 zeros.
Periods and commas
The places are grouped into periods: the ones period (ones, tens, hundreds), the thousands period (thousands, ten thousands), the lakhs period (lakhs, ten lakhs) and the crores period. Commas separate the periods. So the first comma from the right comes after three digits, and every comma after that comes after two digits.
5,43,21,678 = 5 crore 43 lakh 21 thousand 678
This 3, 2, 2 pattern is the quickest way to recognise an Indian-style number.
Reading a number
- Put in the commas from the right: three digits, then two, then two.
- Read each period as a small number and say the name of the period after it.
- The last three digits are read as they are, with no name.
Example: 70,05,409 has three periods: 70 lakh, 05 thousand, 409. Read it as "seventy lakh five thousand four hundred nine". A period that is all zeros is skipped: 3,00,00,025 is "three crore twenty-five".
Writing a number from words
"Four crore six lakh eighty thousand ninety" trips many children, because some places are empty. Make a box for each period and fill each one with the right count of digits, putting zeros where needed: crores 4, lakhs 06, thousands 80, ones 090. The number is 4,06,80,090.
Beyond crores
School books usually stop at ten crores. In daily use, larger amounts are still said in crores: a hundred crore, a thousand crore, one lakh crore. Hindi and other Indian languages also have their own names for higher places: arab (100 crore), kharab (100 arab) and neel (100 kharab). You will see "arab" in Hindi newspapers, though English ones prefer "hundred crore".
Indian and international side by side
The digits never change, only the commas and the names. 12345678 is 1,23,45,678 (one crore twenty-three lakh forty-five thousand six hundred seventy-eight) in the Indian system and 12,345,678 (twelve million three hundred forty-five thousand six hundred seventy-eight) in the international one. The page on lakhs, crores, millions and billions has the conversion table.
Common mistakes
- Commas every three digits. Writing one lakh as 100,000 is the international style. In the Indian style it is 1,00,000.
- Dropping a zero period. "Two lakh five" is 2,00,005, not 2,005.
- Saying "lakhs" with a number. In Indian English it is "five lakh rupees", though "lakhs of rupees" is fine when no number is given.
- Mixing systems in one number. "Ten lakh" and "one million" are the same, but "ten lakh thousand" is not a number name.
Type any number into the converter to see its Indian commas, words and place values. For practice sheets, see place value worksheets on our Worksheets site.