Acre: the one number everybody agrees on
Once a deal crosses a certain size, everyone switches to acres. It is the single unit a Delhi buyer, a Rajasthan seller and a bank valuer will all read exactly the same way.
One acre is 43,560 sq ft, which is 4,840 sq. yd. or roughly 0.405 hectare. The value has been fixed for centuries, so there is no regional variation to argue about. That is precisely why it is the best unit to translate a bigha or katha quote into before you talk price.
The acre also lines up cleanly with most local units: 40 guntha, 8 kanal, 160 marla and 100 cent all make exactly one acre. Bigha is the exception, and how many bigha make an acre depends entirely on where you are standing. In Gujarat it is two and a half vigha, in Rajasthan about 1.6 pucca bigha, in Madhya Pradesh around 3.6 bigha.
For a farmhouse buyer an acre is generous. It holds a four bedroom house, a pool, a lawn, an orchard strip, staff quarters and parking, with ground still left to plant.
Typically used for: Farms, estates, large land banks and institutional purchases.
Where you'll hear it: Used across India for farms, estates and large land deals
Quick facts
- Exact value
- 43,560 sq ft
- In square yards
- 4,840 sq. yd.
- In guntha, kanal, cent
- 40 / 8 / 100
- In hectares
- 0.4047 hectare
How acre changes from place to place
The word stays the same, the ground does not. Here is what one acre works out to in the regions where people use it, so you know exactly what you are being quoted.
| Region or usage | Local term | Square feet | Square yards | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gujarat | 2.5 vigha | 43,560 sq ft | 4,840 sq. yd. | The vigha of 17,424 sq ft divides an acre neatly into two and a half. |
| Rajasthan | 1.6 pucca bigha | 43,560 sq ft | 4,840 sq. yd. | Or about 4.8 kachcha bigha in the same district. |
| Haryana and Punjab | 8 kanal / 160 marla | 43,560 sq ft | 4,840 sq. yd. | The way an acre appears in jamabandi records. |
| Maharashtra | 40 guntha | 43,560 sq ft | 4,840 sq. yd. | Clean arithmetic, which is why guntha survives. |
| South India | 100 cent | 43,560 sq ft | 4,840 sq. yd. | Cent is defined as a hundredth of an acre. |
If a seller quotes you in acre, ask which version they mean before you talk price, then get the same area written in square yards and square feet. That is the figure the sale deed, the registry and any bank valuation will go by.
One Acre in every other unit
Land unit converter
Convert between bigha, biswa, katha, guntha, kanal, marla, cent, acre, hectare, square yards (gaj) and square feet.
What locals would call this area
The same word can mean very different ground depending on where you are standing. Here is your 43,560 sq ft read back in the terms people actually use, state by state.
| Region | Local term | Your area |
|---|---|---|
| Haryana (Gurugram, Sohna, Naugaon) | Bigha | 1.6 bigha |
| Haryana and Punjab | Kanal | 8 kanal |
| Haryana and Punjab | Marla | 160 marla |
| Rajasthan (Alwar, Jaipur) | Pucca bigha | 1.6 pucca bigha |
| Rajasthan villages | Kachcha bigha | 4.8 kachcha bigha |
| Western Uttar Pradesh | Bigha | 1.6133 bigha |
| Uttar Pradesh and Haryana | Biswa | 32.27 biswa |
| Gujarat | Vigha | 2.5 vigha |
| Gujarat and Maharashtra | Guntha | 40 guntha |
| Madhya Pradesh | Bigha | 3.63 bigha |
| Bihar and Jharkhand | Katha | 32.01 katha |
| West Bengal | Cottah (katha) | 60.5 cottah (katha) |
| Assam | Katha | 15.13 katha |
| Uttarakhand hills | Bigha | 6.4021 bigha |
| Tamil Nadu and Kerala | Cent | 100 cent |
| Chennai | Ground | 18.15 ground |
| Andhra Pradesh and Telangana | Ankanam | 605 ankanam |
| Delhi NCR | Gaj (square yard) | 4,840 gaj (square yard) |
Local values are the ones commonly used in each area. Districts and villages sometimes work with their own figures, so always ask the seller which version they mean and get the area written in square yards on paper.
PaperworkQuestions people ask
Why is one bigha not the same everywhere?+
Because bigha was never standardised. It grew out of local practice, so each region settled on its own size. A pucca bigha in Rajasthan is about 27,225 sq ft, a kachcha bigha in the same state is roughly 9,075 sq ft, Gujarat's vigha is 17,424 sq ft, Madhya Pradesh works with about 12,000 sq ft, and the hill districts of Uttarakhand use a bigha closer to 6,804 sq ft. Always ask which bigha is being quoted, then get the area restated in square yards.
What is the difference between a bigha, a biswa and a katha?+
They are the same idea in different languages. A bigha is the parent unit, and it gets divided into twenty parts. In Haryana and Uttar Pradesh those parts are called biswa, and in Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal they are called katha. Since the parent bigha varies, so do biswa and katha, which is why a Bihar katha is about 1,361 sq ft while a Bengal cottah is only 720 sq ft.
Which local units are used around Sohna, Naugaon and Alwar?+
On the Haryana side you will hear bigha, biswa, kanal and marla, with kanal and marla appearing in the jamabandi. On the Alwar side of Rajasthan it is mostly pucca and kachcha bigha. Sale deeds through the whole belt are written in square yards, which is the unit we quote in.
How many guntha, kanal, marla or cent make an acre?+
Forty guntha, eight kanal, 160 marla or 100 cent. All four are standardised, so those numbers hold wherever you are. Bigha is the odd one out, and the answer there depends entirely on the state.
Why do land records use hectares when nobody speaks in hectares?+
Revenue departments moved to metric for record keeping, so jamabandi, khasra and khatian extracts carry hectares and ares. Everyday conversation stayed with the traditional units. You need both: hectares to read your papers and square yards to sign your deed.
What is the difference between vigha and bigha?+
The same unit with different spellings. Vigha is the Gujarati form, bigha the North Indian one. A Gujarat vigha is usually taken as 17,424 sq ft, which is not what a Haryana bigha means, so the spelling difference hides a real size difference.
Which unit should I use when comparing two pieces of land?+
Square feet, every time. Convert both offers to a price per square foot and the comparison becomes honest in seconds. Headline prices per bigha or per katha hide too much because the units themselves are not fixed.
How big is a 1,500 sq. yd. farm land in local terms?+
A 1,500 sq. yd. farm land is 13,500 sq ft. That is about 2.5 kanal or 50 marla in Haryana language, roughly 0.5 pucca bigha in Alwar, about 0.77 vigha in Gujarat terms, 12.4 guntha, just under 10 katha in Bihar, 31 cent in the south, or 0.31 acre.
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