The Indian numbering system is used in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to express large numbers, which differs from the International System of Units. Commonly used quantities include lakh (one hundred thousand, 105) and crore (ten million, 107) written as 1,00,000 and 1,00,00,000 respectively 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 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, 109), kharab (100 arab, 1011), nil or sometimes transliterated as neel (100 kharab, 1013), padma (100 nil, 1015), shankh (100 padma, 1017), and mahashankh (100 shankh, 1019). In common parlance (though inconsistent), the lakh and crore terminology repeats for larger numbers. Thus lakh crore is 1012.

In the ancient Indian system, still in use in regional languages of India, there are single-word names for up to 1062 (see ). 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.

Multiples

The Indian system is decimal (base-10), same as in the International System of Units, and the first five orders of magnitude are named in a similar way: one (100), ten (101), one hundred (102), one thousand (103), and ten thousand (104). For higher powers of ten, naming diverges. The Indian system uses names for every second power of ten: lakh (105), crore (107), arab (109), kharab (1011), etc. In the long and short scales, there are names for every third power of ten. The short scale uses million (106), billion (109), trillion (1012), etc.

Decimal formatting

In the Indian system, digits of a large decimal are grouped differently than in the International System of Units. Both systems indicate the first three digits to the left of the decimal point as a group. Thereafter, the Indian system groups by two digits. This aligns with the naming of quantities at multiples of 100.

IndianInternational5,00,000500,00012,34,56,789123,456,78917,00,00,00,00017,000,000,0006,78,90,00,00,00,00,0006,789,000,000,000,000

Like English and other locales, the Indian system uses a period as the decimal separator and the comma for grouping, while others 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, for example: lakh /lɑːkʰ/ crore /kə.ɾoːɽ/ (or /kɹoʊɹ/ in American English) arab /ə.ɾəb/ kharab /kʰə.ɾəb/

Names of numbers The table below includes the spelling and pronunciation of numbers in various Indian languages along with corresponding short scale names.

Value Numerals Short scale Indian English Hindustani Marathi Bengali Nepali Tamil Telugu 11 one one / () () () () () () 1010 ten ten / () () () () () () 102100 hundred hundred / () () () () () () 1031,000 thousand thousand हज़ार / () () () () () 10410,000 ten thousand ten thousand / () () () () ()() () 1051,00,000 hundred thousand lakh / () () () () ()() () 10610,00,000 million tenlakh / () () () () 1071,00,00,000 ten million crore / () () () () () () 10810,00,00,000 hundred million tencrore / () () () () () () 1091,00,00,00,000 billion / hundredcrore / ()() () () () () () 101010,00,00,00,000 ten billion ten/ thousandcrore () / () एक खर्व() () () () 10111,00,00,00,00,000 hundred billion kharab/ hundred/ tenthousandcrore / () एक () () () () () 101210,00,00,00,00,000 trillion tenkharab/ onethousand/ onelakhcrore () / () () ()() () () 10131,00,00,00,00,00,000 ten trillion nil/ hundredkharab/ tenthousand/ tenlakhcrore / () (ek mahāpadma) ()() () () () 101410,00,00,00,00,00,000 hundred trillion tennil/ crorecrore () / () () ()()() () () 10151,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 quadrillion padma/ hundrednil/ tencrorecrore / ()एक जलधि शंखू(eka jaladhi śaṅkhū) ()() () () ()

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. Name Indian decimal Value Short scale () 1 1 one () 10 10 ten () 100 102 hundred () 1,000 103 thousand () 1,00,000 105 hundred thousand () 1,00,00,000 107 ten million () 1,00,000 1012 trillion () 1,00,000 1017 hundred quadrillion () 1,00,000 1022 ten sextillion () 1,00,000 1027 octillion () 1,00,000 1032 hundred nonillion () 1,00,000 1037 ten undecillion () 1,00,000 1042 tredecillion () 1,00,000 1047 hundred quattuordecillion () 1,00,000 1052 ten sexdecillion () 1,00,000 1057 octodecillion () 1,00,000 1062 hundred novemdecillion

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:

+ Usage of lakh and crore in other Indic languages Language Lakh Crore 100 crores(one billion) 1000 crores(10 billion) 10,000 crores(100 billion) Assamese lokhyo, or lakh kouti, or koti rowspan="4" colspan="3" Bengali lākh, or lokkho kōṭi Burmese lakh Dhivehi ލައްކަ la'kha ކްރޯރް kroaru Gujarati lākh karoḍ abaj rowspan="2" colspan="2" Hindi lākh karoḍ arab Kannada lakṣha kōṭi colspan="3" Khasi lak klur or krur arab kharab Malayalam laksham kodi colspan="3" Marathi lākh koṭi, or karoḍ abja colspan="2" Nepali lākh karoḍ rowspan="3" colspan="3" Odia lôkhyô koṭi Punjabi lakkh (Gurmukhi: , Shahmukhi: ) karoṛ (Gurmukhi: , Shahmukhi: ) Rohingya lák kurul kuthí Sinhala rowspan="3" colspan="3" Tamil ilaṭcam kōṭi Telugu lakṣha kōṭi Urdu lākh karoṛ arab kharab Swahili colspan="4"

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

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

Sri Lanka and Nepal used this system in the past but have switched to the International numbering system in recent years. In the Maldives, the term lakh is widely used in official documents and local speech. However, the International System of Units 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 International system for foreign currencies throughout the Reserve Bank's website.Reserve Bank of India, old and new website (known on archive.org since 5 Apr 2024). Retrieved 16 Apr 2024.

See also Scientific notation Japanese notation

References Notes

References