Arab vs Kharab — Which Is Bigger?
1 kharab is bigger — it equals 100 arab. Written out, 1 kharab is 1,00,00,00,00,000 and 1 arab is 1,00,00,00,000. Going the other way, 1 arab is 0.01 kharab.
Side by side
| 1 Arab, Indian digits | 1,00,00,00,000 |
| 1 Arab, international digits | 1,000,000,000 |
| 1 Arab as a power of ten | 10⁹ |
| 1 Arab on the other scale | 1 Billion |
| 1 Kharab, Indian digits | 1,00,00,00,00,000 |
| 1 Kharab, international digits | 100,000,000,000 |
| 1 Kharab as a power of ten | 10¹¹ |
| 1 Kharab on the other scale | 100 Billion |
Both directions
To go from kharab to arab, multiply by 100. So 5 kharab is 500 arab, and 100 kharab is 10,000 arab.
To go the other way, divide by 100. 500 arab is 5 kharab, and 1 arab is 0.01 kharab.
Where each one is used
Arab is the classical unit above crore. It stays in daily use in Pakistan and in Urdu-language media, while Indian English has largely dropped it in favour of counting on in crore. This is the single biggest divergence between Indian and Pakistani number habits.
Kharab sits two steps above crore and is rare even in Urdu outside formal writing. Figures at this scale are usually reported as "lakh crore" in India or as "hundred billion" internationally.
Arab to Kharab at a glance
| Amount | Equals |
|---|---|
| 1 Arab | 0.01 Kharab |
| 2 Arab | 0.02 Kharab |
| 5 Arab | 0.05 Kharab |
| 10 Arab | 0.1 Kharab |
| 25 Arab | 0.25 Kharab |
| 50 Arab | 0.5 Kharab |
| 100 Arab | 1 Kharab |
| 500 Arab | 5 Kharab |
| 1,000 Arab | 10 Kharab |
The full scale
| Indian unit | Digits | Power | International |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thousand | 1,000 | 10³ | 1 Thousand |
| Lakh | 1,00,000 | 10⁵ | 100 Thousand |
| Crore | 1,00,00,000 | 10⁷ | 10 Million |
| Arab | 1,00,00,00,000 | 10⁹ | 1 Billion |
| Kharab | 1,00,00,00,00,000 | 10¹¹ | 100 Billion |
| Neel | 1,00,00,00,00,00,000 | 10¹³ | 10 Trillion |
| Padma | 1,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 | 10¹⁵ | 1 Quadrillion |
| Shankh | 1,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 | 10¹⁷ | 100 Quadrillion |
Convert any amount
Indian system
International system
Frequently asked questions
Which is bigger, arab or kharab?
Kharab. One kharab equals 100 arab, so it is 100 times the size.
How many arabs are in 1 kharab?
100. In digits, 1 kharab is 1,00,00,00,00,000 and 1 arab is 1,00,00,00,000.
Why do the two systems have different units at all?
The international system introduces a new name every three digits — thousand, million, billion, trillion. The Indian system introduces one every two digits after a thousand — lakh, crore, arab, kharab. Both count the same way; they just group and name the digits differently, which is also why Indian commas fall at 1,00,00,000 rather than 10,000,000.
Is 1,00,00,00,00,000 the same as 100,000,000,000?
Yes — those are the same number written with Indian and international commas. Only the punctuation changes; the digits and the value do not.