Traditional units of measurement in India
South Asia · 18 documented units · reviewed 2026-07-31
Quick answer
India measures land in bigha, kattha, guntha, cent, kanal and ground — all state-specific — while gold trades in tola (11.66375 g). Only the metric system is statutory.
How measurement works in India
The Standards of Weights and Measures Act made metric units the only legal basis for trade in India, yet revenue records, brokerage and everyday speech never stopped using traditional units. The result is a legal metric layer sitting on top of a living vernacular layer.
Land units are state-level, not national. A bigha in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Assam are four different areas. Guntha and are dominate Maharashtra and Karnataka; cent and ground dominate Tamil Nadu and Kerala; kanal and marla dominate Punjab and Haryana, inherited from the same survey settlement as Pakistan.
Weight is more settled than area. The tola is fixed at 11.66375 g and is still how bullion dealers quote gold. Seer and maund persist in grain trade, chatak and chhatank in kitchen and retail contexts, especially in eastern India and Bangladesh.
area units of India
| Unit | Value in SI | Typical use | Convert |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bigha | 1 Bigha = 2,508.38 square metre | agriculture, surveying | Bigha → square metresIn-depth guide |
| Kattha/Katha | 1 Kattha/Katha = 125.419 square metre | agriculture | Kattha/Katha → square metresIn-depth guide |
| Guntha | 1 Guntha = 101.17 square metre | agriculture | Guntha → square metresIn-depth guide |
| Cent | 1 Cent = 40.4686 square metre | surveying | Cent → square metresIn-depth guide |
| Ground | 1 Ground = 222.967 square metre | surveying | Ground → square metresIn-depth guide |
| Kanal | 1 Kanal = 505.857 square metre | agriculture, surveying | Kanal → square metresIn-depth guide |
| Marla | 1 Marla = 25.2929 square metre | surveying | Marla → square metresIn-depth guide |
mass units of India
| Unit | Value in SI | Typical use | Convert |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tola | 1 Tola = 0.01166375 kilogram | jewellery, precious-metals | Tola → kilogramsIn-depth guide |
| Masha | 1 Masha = 0.00097198 kilogram | jewellery | Masha → kilogramsIn-depth guide |
| Ratti | 1 Ratti = 0.0001215 kilogram | jewellery | Ratti → kilogramsIn-depth guide |
| Seer | 1 Seer = 0.9331 kilogram | trade, general | Seer → kilogramsIn-depth guide |
| Maund | 1 Maund = 37.3242 kilogram | trade, agriculture | Maund → kilogramsIn-depth guide |
| Chatak/Chittak | 1 Chatak/Chittak = 0.05832 kilogram | cooking | Chatak/Chittak → kilogramsIn-depth guide |
| Chhatank | 1 Chhatank = 0.05831 kilogram | cooking, trade | Chhatank → kilogramsIn-depth guide |
length units of India
| Unit | Value in SI | Typical use | Convert |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaz (Yard) | 1 Gaz (Yard) = 0.9144 metre | textiles, surveying | Gaz (Yard) → metresIn-depth guide |
| Hath (Cubit) | 1 Hath (Cubit) = 0.4572 metre | textiles | Hath (Cubit) → metresIn-depth guide |
| Angul (Finger) | 1 Angul (Finger) = 0.01905 metre | general | Angul (Finger) → metres |
| Kos/Kosh | 1 Kos/Kosh = 3,218.688 metre | navigation | Kos/Kosh → metresIn-depth guide |
Units that vary within India
- Bigha — reported range: 1,600–6,772 m²
Before you convert
- Never convert "bigha" without the state — the same word spans roughly 1,500 m² to 27,000 m² across India.
- Cent (40.47 m²) and cent in the sense of one-hundredth of an acre are the same thing; ground (222.97 m²) is not a fraction of an acre and is Chennai-specific.
- Tola in modern bullion is 11.66375 g, but pre-1956 British Indian tola coins were struck to the same mass — historical documents may still intend the older definition.
Sources
- Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 (India)
- Legal Metrology Act, 2009 (India)
See our methodology and data provenance pages, or review published corrections.