Acre and Bigha — Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on the state — there is no single national answer. One acre is about 1.6 bigha in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan (pucca), about 3.025 bigha in West Bengal and Assam, exactly 2 bigha in Punjab and Haryana, and exactly 5 bigha in Himachal Pradesh. These are commonly-cited approximate figures; confirm the exact local value before any transaction.

No. A bigha is always smaller than an acre in every Indian state that uses it, and unlike the acre it is not a standardised unit. An acre is fixed at 43,560 square feet worldwide, while a bigha ranges from roughly 6,806 square feet in the Uttarakhand hills to 27,225 square feet in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Again it varies by state. One bigha is about 0.625 acre in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan (pucca), about 0.33 acre in West Bengal and Assam, 0.5 acre in Punjab and Haryana, 0.4 acre in Gujarat and 0.2 acre in Himachal Pradesh. Use the calculator with your state selected rather than a national average.

There is no official all-India figure. The most repeated shorthand is 1 acre = 1.6 bigha, which comes from the North Indian pucca bigha of 27,225 square feet. Applying it in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh or Uttarakhand will misstate the area by half or more, so always convert using your own state.

One acre equals 43,560 square feet. Divide that by your state's bigha size to get the answer: 43,560 ÷ 27,225 = 1.6 bigha in Uttar Pradesh, 43,560 ÷ 14,400 = 3.025 bigha in West Bengal, 43,560 ÷ 8,712 = 5 bigha in Himachal Pradesh. The calculator does this for every listed state.

In Gujarat one acre is commonly cited as 2.5 bigha (vigha), taking one vigha as 16 guntha or 17,424 square feet. Parts of the state count a vigha as 20 guntha, which makes it 21,780 square feet and exactly 2 vigha to an acre. Because the guntha is the stable unit at 1,089 square feet and 40 to an acre, ask for deals in guntha or square metres.

The bigha pre-dates both the metric system and modern state boundaries. It grew out of local revenue surveys that each used their own rod, rope or chain length, so neighbouring regions settled on different sizes. Those conventions were recorded in colonial-era settlement records and survive in everyday use even though official records are now metric.

A pucca (literally 'firm') bigha is the larger, officially-recorded measure; a kaccha bigha is a smaller local one, typically a half or a third of the pucca. In Rajasthan a pucca bigha is 27,225 square feet against a kaccha bigha of 17,424. Always establish which one a seller means before agreeing a price.

No. Treat every figure here as a planning estimate, not a legal measurement. Registration, mutation and mortgage paperwork must use the area recorded by your district land revenue office or a licensed surveyor. This tool is for understanding a listing quickly and knowing which questions to ask.

It is completely free with no signup and no adverts. Every calculation runs inside your browser using a lookup table shipped with the page, so the numbers you type are never sent to a server. The site does use Google Analytics to count page views, which sets a cookie; the privacy policy explains what it records and how to opt out.