Overview
A lakh denotes the quantity 100,000 (one hundred thousand). In scientific notation it is 1×10^5. The word appears in English as "lakh" or the variant "lac" and is commonly used in everyday speech, finance and media across South Asia, notably in India and neighbouring countries.
Notation and examples
In the Indian numbering system a lakh is written with a different comma placement than in the international system: 1,00,000 rather than 100,000. Common numeric examples include:
- 1 lakh = 100,000
- 5 lakh = 500,000
- 10 lakh = 1,000,000 (one million)
Usage and contexts
People regularly use lakhs when talking about prices, salaries, population figures and budgets. In formal international reporting or scientific contexts values are often converted to thousands, millions or use SI prefixes, but domestic reporting in South Asian media and documents frequently retains lakhs for clarity and cultural familiarity.
Relation to other regional units
A crore equals 100 lakh (100 × 100,000 = 10,000,000). Thus 1 crore is ten million. For cross-references see crore. In conversions: 1 lakh = 0.1 million and 10 lakh = 1 million.
Etymology and brief history
The term is derived from Sanskrit laksha (lakṣa), historically used in South Asian numerical traditions. It became established in many regional languages and later entered English usage during colonial and modern periods as a conventional term for this scale of counting.
Notable points and guidance
Lakh is not part of the International System of Units (SI), so writers addressing international audiences should indicate the equivalent in thousands or millions to avoid ambiguity. Abbreviations such as "L" or "lakh" appear in informal contexts (e.g., 5 L = 5 lakh), but full numeric forms are preferred in formal documents.