Lakh

Lakh, sometimes spelled lac, is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to 100,000 (one hundred thousand). It is widely used in South Asia to express large quantities, particularly of money and population. The term traces to the Hindi lakh and the Sanskrit laksha, both meaning roughly “one hundred thousand.”

In practical use, numbers are often described in lakhs and crores. For example, 1 lakh rupees equals 100,000 rupees, 10 lakh equals 1,000,000 (one million), and 100 lakh equals 10,000,000 (ten million), which is also called one crore in the Indian system. This grouping—thousands, lakhs, and crores—is standard in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and parts of Sri Lanka, though the exact terms and pronunciations can vary by language.

Spelling variants include lakh and lac, with "lakh" being common in Indian English. The term is mainly used in the region and in contexts involving large financial figures or demographic counts. In international contexts, numbers are typically presented in thousands, millions, or billions rather than lakhs and crores.