What it is
Nepal and India group large numbers differently from the West. After a thousand, the groups go in twos: lakh (one hundred thousand), crore (ten million), arba (one billion), kharba (one hundred billion).
Written with commas: Rs 1,23,45,67,890 is 1 arba 23 crore 45 lakh 67 thousand 890.
Quarterly filings usually state figures 'in Rs 000' (thousands). So '45,678,901' in Rs '000 is Rs 45,678,901,000, which is Rs 45.68 arba, or 4,567.89 crore.
Conversion: 1 million = 10 lakh. 1 billion = 1 arba = 100 crore. 1 crore = 10 million.
How it is calculated
1 lakh = 10^5. 1 crore = 10^7 = 100 lakh. 1 arba = 10^9 = 100 crore. 1 kharba = 10^11 = 100 arba. Figures 'in Rs 000' must be multiplied by 1,000 first.
Worked on Nabil Bank Limited, FY 2082/83 Q4
NABIL's total assets of Rs 73,473.16 crore are the same as 73,473.16 crore or 734.73 arba. Punji's app shows compact figures (lakh, crore, arba) with the unit, so you do not have to count zeros.
What good looks like
Always find the unit line ('Amount in Rs 000', 'Rs in million', 'Rs in crore') at the top of the statement before reading any figure.
Watch out
- Mixing 'Rs 000' and 'Rs crore' sources leads to 10,000× errors.
- Some foreign sites use million and billion for Nepali banks; 1 billion = 1 arba = 100 crore.
- EPS and book value per share are plain rupees, never in thousands.
In Nepal
Nepali banks follow the South Asian grouping in both Nepali and English reports; NRB publications use arba and kharba for system totals.
Questions
100. One arba is one billion, and one crore is ten million.
Add three zeros to every number. 1,000,000 in Rs 000 is Rs 1 arba.