In Punjab and Haryana, land is transacted in kanal and marla, not bigha. One acre is 8 kanal or 160 marla, exactly. Where a bigha is quoted it is commonly 4 kanal — 21,780 square feet, two to an acre — but sources disagree, so prefer kanal and marla.
Punjab and Haryana are the two states where this site's usual advice inverts. Everywhere else the instruction is to pin down your local bigha. Here the instruction is to avoid the bigha altogether, because the region has a better-defined unit sitting right next to it.
The kanal and marla system
The kanal and marla ladder is exact and internally consistent. Every step divides cleanly into the acre, which is why revenue records, sale deeds and property listings across both states use it in preference to anything else.
| Unit | Square feet | Square yards | Per acre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 sarsai | 30.25 | 3.36 | 1,440 |
| 1 marla | 272.25 | 30.25 | 160 |
| 1 kanal | 5,445 | 605 | 8 |
| 1 acre | 43,560 | 4,840 | 1 |
| 1 killa | 43,560 | 4,840 | 1 (another name for an acre) |
- 9 sarsai = 1 marla
- 20 marla = 1 kanal
- 8 kanal = 1 acre
- 1 killa = 1 acre — the two words are used interchangeably in rural Punjab and Haryana
Notice that these are all exact. There is no approximation anywhere in the ladder, and no regional variation to establish. That is a meaningfully different situation from the bigha in almost any other state.
Why the bigha is unreliable here
The bigha does appear in Punjab and Haryana, and this is where the sources part company. Two figures circulate:
| Figure | Square feet | Per acre | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4-kanal bigha | 21,780 | 2 | 2,420 sq yd; the figure we quote as primary |
| Local smaller bigha | 9,072 | 4.8 | 1,008 sq yd; reported across several districts |
A factor of 2.4 between sources
This is the widest source disagreement of any state we cover. It is not a rounding difference — it is two genuinely different conventions, and no amount of cross-referencing settles which one a given seller means.Given that ambiguity, quoting a Punjab or Haryana deal in bigha achieves nothing that quoting it in kanal would not do better and unambiguously. If someone insists on bigha, ask them how many kanal make one.
Biswa in Haryana
Haryana revenue records also use biswa, generally as one twentieth of a bigha. Because the bigha itself is contested, the biswa inherits the same ambiguity. A biswa derived from the 4-kanal bigha is 1,089 square feet; one derived from the smaller bigha is about 454.
The pattern is consistent: sub-units defined against a contested parent unit are contested too. Sub-units defined against the acre — marla, kanal — are not.
Conversions you will actually need
| Acres | Kanal | Marla | Square feet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.125 | 1 | 20 | 5,445 |
| 0.5 | 4 | 80 | 21,780 |
| 1 | 8 | 160 | 43,560 |
| 2.5 | 20 | 400 | 108,900 |
| 5 | 40 | 800 | 217,800 |
A useful rule of thumb for residential plots: a 10-marla plot is 2,722.5 square feet, and a 1-kanal plot is 5,445 square feet. These are the two sizes that dominate urban listings in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Panchkula and Gurugram.
A note on Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh sits in the same measurement family but resolved the bigha question differently. Its bigha is 968 square yards, or 8,712 square feet, which is exactly five to an acre — the cleanest bigha ratio in India. The state comparison table shows Himachal Pradesh with the smallest bigha of any state we cover.
Before you agree a price
- Ask for the area in kanal and marla. Both states' revenue records use them, and both are exact.
- If a bigha figure is quoted, ask how many kanal make one. The answer tells you which of the two conventions is in play.
- Cross-check against the jamabandi. The recorded area is what governs registration.
- For urban plots, confirm whether marla or square yards is being used — a marla is 30.25 square yards, which is easy to misread.
Punjab and Haryana are both in the acre to bigha calculator, each with the smaller local bigha listed as a variant so the ambiguity is visible rather than hidden. For the other state where a stable sub-unit beats the bigha, see the Gujarat guide and its guntha.