This tool spells any number into its English word form using the Indian numbering system — thousand, lakh, crore, arab and kharab. It is the grouping used across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and is ideal for cheques and invoices. It runs entirely in your browser.
How it works
The first three digits from the right form the hundreds and thousand group as usual. After that the Indian system groups in pairs of two digits: lakh (100,000), crore (10,000,000), arab and kharab. Commas in the input are ignored, so 1,23,456 works, and any decimal part is read digit-by-digit after “point”.
The Indian grouping structure
The key difference from the Western system is that after the first three-digit group (ones, tens, hundreds, thousands), the Indian system groups in twos rather than threes. This is why commas appear at different positions:
| Scale word | Value (digit count) | Western equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| One thousand | 1,000 (4 digits) | One thousand |
| One lakh | 1,00,000 (6 digits) | One hundred thousand |
| Ten lakh | 10,00,000 (7 digits) | One million |
| One crore | 1,00,00,000 (8 digits) | Ten million |
| Ten crore | 10,00,00,000 (9 digits) | One hundred million |
| One arab | 1,00,00,00,000 (10 digits) | One billion |
| One kharab | 1,00,00,00,00,000 (12 digits) | One hundred billion |
A figure like ₹5 crore is not five million but fifty million — this mismatch causes genuine confusion when switching between systems, and it is one of the reasons writing the amount in words on a cheque or legal document is a legal requirement in many South Asian jurisdictions.
Worked example
Take 12,34,567:
| Group | Value | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Lakh | 12 | twelve lakh |
| Thousand | 34 | thirty-four thousand |
| Hundreds | 567 | five hundred sixty-seven |
So it reads twelve lakh thirty-four thousand five hundred sixty-seven.
A larger example: 2,50,00,000 (2 crore 50 lakh, or 25 million in Western terms) reads as two crore fifty lakh.
Cheques, invoices, and legal documents
In India, the Reserve Bank of India and banking regulations require cheque amounts to be written in words to prevent fraud. The words must exactly match the figure in numerals. The Indian word form is also the standard for:
- Income tax forms — amount fields require word form using the lakh/crore system.
- Property sale deeds — consideration amounts in crore and lakh form appear in registered documents.
- Company financial statements — Indian public companies report in crore and lakh even in English-language filings.
- Invoices under GST — the taxable value and tax amount are sometimes required in words for large transactions.
Decimals on cheques
Decimal amounts on Indian cheques are handled by writing the whole part in lakh/crore form and appending the paise as a fraction: for example, ₹1,23,456.75 would be written as “one lakh twenty-three thousand four hundred fifty-six and paise seventy-five only”. The tool reads the decimal part digit by digit after the word “point”, which works for general use; for formal cheques the paise convention requires the specific phrase format.
Everything is 100% client-side — your numbers never leave your browser.