Million vs Lakh — Which Is Bigger?
1 million is bigger — it equals 10 lakh. Written out, 1 million is 1,000,000 and 1 lakh is 1,00,000. Going the other way, 1 lakh is 0.1 million.
Side by side
| 1 Million, Indian digits | 10,00,000 |
| 1 Million, international digits | 1,000,000 |
| 1 Million as a power of ten | 10⁶ |
| 1 Million on the other scale | 10 Lakh |
| 1 Lakh, Indian digits | 1,00,000 |
| 1 Lakh, international digits | 100,000 |
| 1 Lakh as a power of ten | 10⁵ |
| 1 Lakh on the other scale | 100 Thousand |
Both directions
To go from million to lakh, multiply by 10. So 5 million is 50 lakh, and 100 million is 1,000 lakh.
To go the other way, divide by 10. 500 lakh is 50 million, and 1 lakh is 0.1 million.
Where each one is used
Million is the international workhorse and the unit most global press, company filings and sports coverage default to. Indian readers meet it constantly in imported copy, which is exactly why it has to be converted back into lakh and crore to feel like a real amount.
Lakh is the everyday unit of Indian personal finance: salaries, car prices, insurance cover and fee structures are all quoted in lakh. Outside South Asia it is essentially unused, which is why "5 lakh" so often has to be restated as "500,000" for an international reader.
Million to Lakh at a glance
| Amount | Equals |
|---|---|
| 1 Million | 10 Lakh |
| 2 Million | 20 Lakh |
| 5 Million | 50 Lakh |
| 10 Million | 100 Lakh |
| 25 Million | 250 Lakh |
| 50 Million | 500 Lakh |
| 100 Million | 1,000 Lakh |
| 500 Million | 5,000 Lakh |
| 1,000 Million | 10,000 Lakh |
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, million or lakh?
Million. One million equals 10 lakh, so it is 10 times the size.
How many lakhs are in 1 million?
10. In digits, 1 million is 1,000,000 and 1 lakh is 1,00,000.
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 10,00,000 the same as 1,000,000?
Yes — those are the same number written with Indian and international commas. Only the punctuation changes; the digits and the value do not.