Acre to Square Feet, Hectare, Bigha and Cent
1 acre is 43,560 square feet, 4,840 square yards or about 4,046.86 square metres, which is 0.4047 hectare. In Indian land units, it equals 40 guntha, 100 cents or decimals and 8 kanal everywhere. In bigha, it depends on the state: 1.6 pucca bighas in UP, Bihar and Rajasthan, 2.5 in Saurashtra, and 5 in Himachal Pradesh.
Key takeaways
- The acre is a fixed unit: a chain by a furlong (66 × 660 ft), exactly 43,560 sq ft. Every acre conversion is arithmetic, not local custom.
- One hectare is about 2.471 acres. Most state land records now use hectares, so this is the conversion you will use most.
- The bigha is the only unit in this list whose ratio to the acre changes by state, from 1.6 to 5 bighas per acre.
- An acre of raw land rarely becomes an acre of plots. Plotted layouts in India typically sell 55% to 65% of the land, so an acre gives about 20 to 23 plots of 30 × 40 ft, not 36.
- On a group housing site in Haryana, an FAR of 1.75 lets you build 76,230 sq ft of floor area on one acre.
Acre conversion table
All figures are our arithmetic from 1 acre = 43,560 sq ft = 4,046.86 sq m, the international acre as defined in Wikipedia's Acre entry and every standard reference. Our hub on land measurement units in India has the wider unit list.
| Unit | Size of one unit | Units in 1 acre | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square foot | 1 sq ft | 43,560 | Everywhere, for plots and flats |
| Square yard (gaj) | 9 sq ft | 4,840 | North India plots, Hyderabad |
| Square metre | 10.764 sq ft | 4,046.86 | Deeds, development rules |
| Hectare | 107,639 sq ft | 0.4047 | Revenue records in most states |
| Guntha / gunta | 1,089 sq ft | 40 | Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha |
| Cent / decimal | 435.6 sq ft | 100 | Kerala, Tamil Nadu, AP; decimal in Bengal, Odisha, Bihar |
| Kanal | 5,445 sq ft | 8 | Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, J&K |
| Marla (Punjab) | 272.25 sq ft | 160 | Punjab; Haryana's marla differs |
| Ankanam | 72 sq ft | 605 | Southern Andhra Pradesh |
| Katha (Bihar, central) | 1,361.25 sq ft | 32 | Bihar, UP (as biswa) |
Several of these units have their own pages: guntha to square feet, cent to square feet, 1 marla in square feet (Haryana and Punjab differ) and square yard to square feet.
Acre to bigha, by state
The bigha breaks the rule that an acre converts cleanly. Using the figures from our bigha to square feet table:
- UP, Bihar, Rajasthan (pucca), 27,225 sq ft: 1 acre = 1.6 bigha, so 1 bigha = 0.625 acre.
- Saurashtra and Rajasthan kachcha, 17,424 sq ft: 1 acre = 2.5 bigha.
- Assam and West Bengal, 14,400 sq ft: 1 acre = about 3.03 bigha.
- Madhya Pradesh, about 12,000 sq ft: 1 acre = about 3.63 bigha.
- Himachal Pradesh, 8,712 sq ft: 1 acre = exactly 5 bigha.
If a deal is quoted in bigha and you think in acres, get the district's bigha from the tehsil and do the division yourself.
Acre to hectare, and why records use hectares
One hectare is 10,000 sq m, about 107,639 sq ft, so 1 hectare = 2.471 acres and 1 acre = 0.4047 hectare. The metric system is the legal standard under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, and states have moved their records to it: Maharashtra's 7/12 prints hectare-are-square metre, and UP's khatauni uses hectares.
Quick hectare conversions
- 0.5 hectare = 1.24 acres = 53,820 sq ft
- 1 hectare = 2.47 acres = 98.8 guntha = 247 cents
- 2 hectares = 4.94 acres
- 10 acres = 4.047 hectares = 435,600 sq ft
A seller who rounds 1 hectare to "2.5 acres" is overstating it by about 1,260 sq ft; on land priced at Rs 1,000 per sq ft, that rounding is worth Rs 12.6 lakh.
How many plots does an acre really give?
Divide 43,560 by a plot size and you get the theoretical maximum: 36 plots of 30 × 40 ft. No approved layout gets there. Planning rules make you give up land for roads, parks and civic amenities before a single plot is sold, and Indian plotted schemes typically end up with a saleable ratio of 55% to 65%.
What the rules take out
- Karnataka: layouts reserve 15% for parks and open space and 5% for civic amenity sites, and relinquish the roads to the authority, under the town planning department's rules.
- Telangana (HMDA): at least 10% of the layout as open space, main roads of at least 12 m and internal roads of 9 m. The developer must mortgage part of the plotted area to the authority until roads and parks are built: 15% under the published guidelines, with 25% mentioned under a newer procedure.
| Plot size | Sq ft | Theoretical plots per acre | At 55% saleable | At 60% | At 65% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 × 40 ft | 1,200 | 36 | 19 | 21 | 23 |
| 30 × 50 ft | 1,500 | 29 | 15 | 17 | 18 |
| 40 × 60 ft | 2,400 | 18 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 100 sq yd | 900 | 48 | 26 | 29 | 31 |
| 200 sq yd | 1,800 | 24 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
Plot counts are rounded down to whole plots; real layouts lose a few more to odd corners. This is why you should never value farmland by multiplying plot prices by 36.
What an acre allows you to build: FAR
For a building rather than a layout, the number that matters is the floor area ratio (FAR), also called FSI. Total floor area allowed = plot area × FAR. Haryana's group housing norms allow an FAR of 1.75 with 35% ground coverage. On one acre:
- Floor area: 43,560 × 1.75 = 76,230 sq ft
- Maximum footprint: 43,560 × 0.35 = 15,246 sq ft
- So the building needs at least 76,230 ÷ 15,246 = 5 floors to use the full FAR
At an average of 1,500 sq ft of built-up area per flat, that is about 50 homes on the acre, before any purchasable or bonus FAR. Rules differ by city and road width; our explainer on FSI vs FAR covers Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Haryana.
Worked example: what an acre of farmland really costs per plot
Say land on a city's edge is offered at Rs 50 lakh an acre. On raw land that looks like Rs 50,00,000 ÷ 43,560 = about Rs 1,148 per sq ft.
Now make it a plotted layout at a 60% saleable ratio. You can sell 43,560 × 0.60 = 26,136 sq ft. The land cost per saleable sq ft becomes Rs 50,00,000 ÷ 26,136 = about Rs 1,913, before roads, drains, electricity, approval fees and conversion charges. Price the land off the raw figure and you understate your cost per saleable square foot by about 40%.
Where acre conversions trip buyers up
- Records in hectares, talk in acres. Use 2.471, not 2.5.
- Gross vs net acres. A "5-acre project" may include roads and land not yet bought. Ask for the survey numbers and the approved layout.
- Bigha deals. Confirm which bigha before you convert.
- Agricultural land. An acre of farmland is not an acre of buildable land until it is converted. Check the state's agricultural land buying rules before you pay.
Frequently asked questions
How many square feet are there in 1 acre?
One acre is exactly 43,560 square feet. It comes from the old survey definition of a strip one chain (66 ft) wide and one furlong (660 ft) long. That also makes it 4,840 square yards and about 4,046.86 square metres, and the figure is the same in every Indian state.
How many acres make 1 hectare?
One hectare is about 2.471 acres, and one acre is about 0.4047 hectare. A hectare is 10,000 square metres, or roughly 107,639 sq ft. Because revenue records in most states now use hectares, multiply the record's figure by 2.471 to get acres, and don't round it to 2.5.
How many plots of 30 × 40 can be made in 1 acre?
In theory 36, since 43,560 ÷ 1,200 = 36.3. In an approved layout, after roads, parks and civic amenity land, you usually sell 55% to 65% of the land, which gives about 19 to 23 plots of 30 × 40 ft per acre.
How many cents and guntha are in an acre?
An acre has 100 cents (called decimals in Bengal, Odisha and Bihar) of 435.6 sq ft each, and 40 guntha of 1,089 sq ft each. So 1 guntha equals 2.5 cents, and half an acre is 50 cents or 20 guntha.
How many kanal are in an acre?
Eight. A kanal in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh is 20 marla of 272.25 sq ft, or 5,445 sq ft, and 8 × 5,445 = 43,560. So a one-kanal house plot is one-eighth of an acre, and a two-kanal plot is a quarter acre, or 10,890 sq ft.
Evaluating land by the acre anywhere in India? Talk to Realty Hunting and we'll help you work out what it can actually yield.
