Lakh & Crore in Numbers
Type an amount to see it in digits. You get the figure with Indian commas, the plain comma-free form that online forms accept, the international grouping, and the words to write on a cheque.
Example · 4.5 million — start typing to convert your own
Indian system
International system
Turning a unit into digits
Writing "12 lakh" as digits trips people up because the unit and the punctuation disagree: the word advances in twos, the first comma sits three digits from the right, and half the forms that ask for the number will not accept a comma at all. These pages give all three forms of every common amount, with the plain one first.
Every Indian unit is a 1 followed by a fixed number of zeros: thousand has 3, lakh has 5, crore has 7, arab has 9, kharab has 11. Multiplying by the unit just appends that many zeros, so 12 lakh is 12 followed by five zeros — 1200000.
The commas go on afterwards and do not change the value. Indian grouping marks off the last three digits and then works leftwards in pairs, producing 12,00,000. International grouping keeps three-digit blocks the whole way, producing 1,200,000.
When the amount has a decimal — 1.5 crore, 2.2 million — move the point rightwards by the same number of places instead of appending zeros. 1.5 crore moves the point seven places to give 15000000.
Common examples
| Amount | In numbers |
|---|---|
| 1 Lakh | 1,00,000 |
| 5 Lakh | 5,00,000 |
| 12 Lakh | 12,00,000 |
| 18 Lakh | 18,00,000 |
| 50 Lakh | 50,00,000 |
| 1 Crore | 1,00,00,000 |
| 1.5 Crore | 1,50,00,000 |
| 2.5 Crore | 2,50,00,000 |
| 15 Crore | 15,00,00,000 |
| 50 Crore | 50,00,00,000 |
| 140 Crore | 1,40,00,00,000 |
| 300 Crore | 3,00,00,00,000 |
| 500 Crore | 5,00,00,00,000 |
| 1 Million | 10,00,000 |
| 22 Million | 2,20,00,000 |
| 1.4 Billion | 1,40,00,00,000 |
| 1 Lakh Crore | 10,00,00,00,00,000 |
Frequently asked questions
How do I write lakh and crore amounts in numbers?
Append the unit's zeros to the amount: lakh adds five, crore adds seven. 5 lakh is 500000, 5 crore is 50000000. Add Indian commas afterwards if the field allows them — 5,00,000 and 5,00,00,000.
Why do forms reject the number I paste in?
Almost always the commas. Bank portals, tax forms and spreadsheets usually want an unpunctuated string of digits. Every page in this family shows that form first, with a copy button, for exactly that reason.
How many zeros does each Indian unit have?
Thousand 3, lakh 5, crore 7, arab 9, kharab 11, neel 13, padma 15, shankh 17. Each unit after thousand adds two more zeros than the one before it, which is also why the commas fall in pairs.
Is 1.5 crore a valid amount to write in digits?
Yes — it is 1,50,00,000. Decimal amounts of a unit are completely standard in Indian usage ("1.5 crore", "2.5 lakh"); you shift the decimal point by the unit's number of zeros rather than appending them.