Crore

Crore is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to ten million (10,000,000) and is also defined as one hundred lakh. It is a common unit in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and it is frequently used in English-language media and financial documents within those regions. In writing, the Indian system groups digits as 1,00,00,000 for one crore, whereas the Western system writes ten million as 10,000,000. The abbreviation cr or cr. is sometimes used in financial shorthand such as Rs 5 cr.

Crore is primarily used to express large monetary amounts, budgets, revenues, project costs, and other financial figures. It also appears in demographic and statistical contexts when populations reach several tens of millions. The term is part of the broader lakh–crore system, where one lakh equals 100,000 and one crore equals 100 lakh.

Etymology of the term crore traces to the Indian subcontinent and English usage, entering through Hindustani languages such as Hindi and Urdu, with influences from Persian and Arabic linguistic traditions. The concept reflects the traditional Indian method of numbering large values, which differs from the Western grouping of digits. While widely understood in South Asia, the term is uncommon in most other regions, where “ten million” is preferred.