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The Indian numbering system is used in Indian English and the Indian subcontinent to express large numbers. Commonly used quantities include lakh (one hundred thousand) and crore (ten million) – written as 1,00,000 and 1,00,00,000 in some locales. For example: 150,000 rupees is "1.5 lakh rupees" which can be written as "1,50,000 rupees", and 30,000,000 (thirty million) rupees is referred to as "3 crore rupees" which is can be written as "3,00,00,000 rupees".

There are names for numbers larger than crore, but they are less commonly used. These include arab (100 crore, 1 billion), kharab (100 arab, 100 billion), nil or sometimes transliterated as neel (100 kharab, 10 trillion), padma (100 nil, 1 quadrillion), shankh (100 padma, 100 quadrillion), and mahashankh (100 shankh, 10 quintillion). In common parlance (though inconsistent), the lakh and crore terminology repeats for larger numbers. Thus lakh crore is 1 trillion.

In the ancient Indian system, still in use in regional languages of India, there are words for (10). These names respectively starting at 1000 are sahasra, ayuta, laksha, niyuta, koti, arbhudha, abhja, karva, nikarva, mahapadma, shanmkhu, jaladhi, amtya, madhya, paraardha. In the Indian system, now prevalent in the northern parts, the next powers of ten are one lakh, ten lakh, one crore, ten crore, one arab (or one hundred crore), and so on.

Comparison with Western systems

Like numbering in the West, the Indian numbering system is decimal (base-10). Further, the first five orders of magnitude are named the same in both systems: one (10), ten (10), one hundred (10), one thousand (10), and ten thousand (10). For higher powers of ten, naming diverges. There are names for every second power of ten: lakh (10), crore (10), arab (10), kharab (10), etc. In the Western system (short scale), there are names for every third power of ten: million (10), billion (10), trillion (10), etc.

Written numbers differ in the placement of commas, grouping digits into powers of one hundred (10) in the Indian system (except for the first thousand), and into powers of one thousand (10) in the Western system.

Like English and other locales, the Indian system uses a period as the decimal separator and the comma for grouping. Some Western numbering systems use a comma for decimal separator and a thin space or point to group digits.

Pronunciation in English

When speakers of indigenous Indian languages are speaking English, the pronunciations may be closer to their mother tongue; e.g. "lakh" and "crore" might be pronounced /lɑkʰ/, /kɑrɔːr/, respectively.

• lakh /læk/
• crore /krɔː(ɹ̠)/
• arab /æˈɹ̠æb/
• kharab /kʰæˈɹ̠æb/

Use of separators

The Indian numbering system groups digits of a large value differently from the international norm. The Indian system does group the first three digits to the left of the decimal point the same as international. But thereafter, groups by two digits. One trillion would thus be written 10,00,00,00,00,000. This accords with the Indian numbering system, which has units for thousands, hundreds of thousands, tens of millions, etc. For example:

Names of numbers

The table below shows Western system names in short scale where one billion is one thousand million.

Historic numbering systems

Numbering systems in Hindu epics

There are various systems of numeration found in various ancient epic literature of India (itihasas). The following table gives one such system used in the Valmiki Ramayana.

Other numbering systems

The denominations by which land was measured in the Kumaon Kingdom were based on arable lands and thus followed an approximate system with local variations. The most common of these was a vigesimal (base-20) numbering system with the main denomination called a bisi (see Hindustani number bīs), which corresponded to the land required to sow 20 nalis of seed. Consequently, its actual land measure varied based on the quality of the soil. This system became the established norm in Kumaon by 1891.

Usage in different languages

Below is a list of translations for the words lakh and crore in other languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent:

• In Assamese, a lakh is also called লক্ষ lokhyo, or লাখ lakh and a crore is called কৌটি বা কোটি kouti
• In Bengali, a lakh is natively (tadbhava) known as লাখ lākh, though some use the ardha-tatsama লক্ষ lokkho. A crore is called কোটি kōṭi
• In Burmese, crore is called ကုဋေ [ɡədè]. Lakh is used in Burmese English.
• In Dhivehi, a lakh is called ލައްކަ la'kha and a crore is called ކްރޯރް kroaru
• In Gujarati, a lakh is called લાખ lākh and a crore is called કરોડ karoḍ. A hundred crore is called અબજ abaj
• In Hindi, a lakh is called लाख lākh and a crore is called करोड karoḍ. A hundred crore is called अरब arab
• In Kannada, a lakh is called ಲಕ್ಷ lakṣha and a crore is called ಕೋಟಿ kōṭi
• In Khasi, a lakh is called lak and a crore is called klur or krur. A billion is called arab and hundred billion is called kharab.
• In Malayalam, a lakh is called ലക്ഷം laksham and a crore is called കോടി kodi.
• In Marathi, a lakh is called लाख/लक्ष lākh and a crore is called कोटी koṭi or करोड karoḍ, and an arab (10) is called अब्ज abja.
• In Nepali, a lakh is called लाख lākh and a crore is called करोड karoḍ.
• In Odia, a lakh is called ଲକ୍ଷ lôkhyô and a crore is called କୋଟି koṭi.
• In Punjabi, a lakh is called lakkh (Shahmukhi: لکھ, Gurmukhi: ਲੱਖ) and a crore is called karoṛ (Shahmukhi: کروڑ, Gurmukhi: ਕਰੋੜ).
• In Rohingya, a lakh is called lák and a crore is called kurul. A thousand crore is called kuthí.
• In Sinhala, a lakh is called ලක්ෂ lakṣa and a crore is called කෝටි kōṭi.
• In Tamil, a lakh is called இலட்சம் ilaṭcam and a crore is called கோடி kōṭi.
• In Telugu, a lakh is called లక్ష lakṣha and a crore is called కోటి kōṭi.
• In Urdu, a lakh is called لاکھ lākh and a crore is called کروڑ karoṛ. A billion is called arab (ارب), and one hundred billion/arab is called a kharab (کھرب).
• Lakh has entered the Swahili language as "laki" and is in common use.

Formal written publications in English in India tend to use lakh/crore for Indian currency and International numbering for foreign currencies.

Current usage

The usage of this system is limited to the nations of Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. It is universally employed within these countries, and is preferred to the English numbering system.

Sri Lanka used this system in the past but has switched to the English numbering system in recent years.

In the Maldives, the term lakh is widely used in official documents and local speech. However, the Westernised Hindu-Arabic numeral system is preferred for higher denominations (such as millions).

Most institutions and citizens in India use the Indian number system. The Reserve Bank of India was noted as a rare exception in 2015, whereas by 2024 the Indian system was used for amounts in rupees and the Western system for foreign currencies throughout the Reserve Bank's website.

See also

• Scientific notation
• Japanese notation

References

1. "Knowing our Numbers". Department Of School Education And Literacy. National Repository of Open Educational Resources. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
2. "Decimal and Thousands Separators (International Language Environments Guide)". docs.oracle.com. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
3. Emmons, John (25 March 2018). "UNICODE LOCALE DATA MARKUP LANGUAGE (LDML) PART 3: NUMBERS". Unicode.org. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
4. "Valmiki Ramayana - Yuddha Kanda, Chapter (Sarga) 28,(Verses 33 – 38)". Retrieved 15 July 2021.
5. Traill, G.W. (1828). Batten, J.H. (ed.). Statistical Sketch of Kamaon. John Murray. p. 34.
6. "North Indian Notes and Queries". Google Books. 1–3. Pioneer Press: 216. 1891.
7. Shapiro, Richard (16 August 2012). "The most distinctive counting system in English? Indian cardinal numbers". Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020. Shapiro is/was an OED employee. The article states: "The opinions and other information contained in the OED blog posts and comments do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Oxford University Press."
8. Krulwich, Robert; Block, Ezra (21 October 2010). "Hey! Who Can Explain What India Does With Its Commas? (Not Commies. Commas.)". NPR. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
9. Gurpur (10 August 2015). "Can we follow Indian numbering system for simplicity and good order?". Moneylife News & Views. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
10. Reserve Bank of India, old and new website (known on archive.org since 5 Apr 2024). Retrieved 16 Apr 2024.

• Numerals
• Indian mathematics
• Economy of India
• Economy of Pakistan
• Economy of Nepal
• Numeral systems
• Economy of Bangladesh