Rupees in words, in lakh and crore

In Pakistan and India, large amounts are counted in lakh and crore rather than in millions. A cheque for Rs 12,50,000 is written as twelve lakh fifty thousand rupees, and a builder's quotation for Rs 3,75,00,000 as three crore seventy-five lakh. This converter writes any amount that way, with the paise, ready to copy onto a cheque, a receipt or an invoice.

How lakh and crore group a number

• One thousand is 1,000, as everywhere.
• One lakh is a hundred thousand: 1,00,000.
• Ten lakh is a million: 10,00,000.
• One crore is a hundred lakh, or ten million: 1,00,00,000.
• A hundred crore is a billion: 1,00,00,00,000.

The commas show the difference. The international system puts a comma every three digits, so ten million is 10,000,000. The South Asian system puts the first comma after three digits and then one every two, so the same amount is 1,00,00,000. When you read an amount aloud or write it in words, each group gets its own name: crore, lakh, thousand, then the hundreds.

Above a hundred crore

Some people say arab for a hundred crore and kharab for a hundred arab, but those words are rare on business documents and many readers will not recognise them. This converter keeps counting in crore, so 1,000 crore is one thousand crore and 1,00,000 crore is one lakh crore. That is unambiguous and is how large figures are usually written in budgets and contracts.

Writing it on a cheque

1. Start the words as far to the left of the line as you can, so nothing can be written in front of them.
2. Write the amount in words exactly as it appears in figures. If the two disagree, the bank may return the cheque.
3. Add paise only if there are any, after the rupees: and fifty paise.
4. End with only, then draw a line through the empty space to the end of the line.
5. In the figures box, write the amount tight against the printed symbol, with the commas in the lakh and crore positions.

These are the habits banks and accountants look for, not rules from a regulator. If your bank prints its own instructions on the cheque book, follow those.

On an invoice or a receipt

Many Pakistani clients, government departments in particular, expect the total in words on an invoice or a receipt as well as in figures. It makes the total harder to alter and easier to check against the cheque that pays it. In the invoice builder, choose Pakistani rupees or Indian rupees as the currency and turn on Amount in words in lakh and crore. The line under the total then reads the way the cheque will.

Common mistakes

• Mixing the two systems: one lakh and twenty thousand five hundred thousand is no amount at all.
• Writing lac or lacs. Both spellings are seen, but lakh is the standard spelling and the one the converter uses.
• Using crores as a plural (two crores). On a cheque, write two crore, as you write two thousand.
• Leaving out only, which leaves room to add words at the end.
• Putting the paise before the rupees, or writing paise as a fraction of the figure, like 50/100, inside the words.

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