Number to Words

India groups large numbers differently from most of the world, and mixing the two is the single most common error on a cheque or invoice. The Indian system groups in two-digit steps after the first thousand: thousand, lakh (100,000), crore (10,000,000). The international system groups in threes: thousand, million (1,000,000), billion (1,000,000,000).

So 1,00,00,000 written Indian-style is one crore, and the same value written 10,000,000 internationally is ten million. Digit grouping differs too: Indian formatting places commas as 12,34,56,789 while international formatting uses 123,456,789. Both describe the same number. When writing for an Indian bank, a government form, or a domestic contract, use the Indian system; when writing for an international audience or an accounting system configured for it, use millions and billions and say which you mean.

Amounts in words exist to defeat tampering: digits can be altered, a written phrase cannot be extended easily. Indian banking convention has a fixed shape. Start with the currency, write the amount, add "only" at the end, and leave no gap that could be filled in. "Rupees Forty Five Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty Only" is correct; drawing a line through any remaining space on the line is standard practice.

Paise are written as a separate clause: "Rupees One Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty and Paise Seventy Five Only". Capitalisation of each word is conventional rather than required, but consistency matters more than the choice. If the words and the figures disagree, Section 18 of the Negotiable Instruments Act says the amount in words is the amount that stands, which is exactly why the written form has to be right.

English number words have rules that people apply inconsistently, and a document reviewer will notice. Compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine are hyphenated: forty-five, not forty five. Hundreds, thousands, lakhs, and crores are not hyphenated to what follows them.

The word "and" is where British and American usage split. British and Indian English inserts it before the final part below one hundred: "one thousand two hundred and fifty". American English omits it: "one thousand two hundred fifty". Indian legal and banking documents follow the British form. Two further conventions: use the singular for the units themselves, so "five lakh" and "three crore" rather than "lakhs" and "crores", when a specific number precedes them; and avoid starting a sentence with a numeral, spelling it out instead.