Bigha to Square Feet: State-Wise Conversion Table
One bigha has no single size in square feet. It is 14,400 sq ft in Assam and West Bengal, 27,225 sq ft (a pucca bigha) in most of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, 17,424 sq ft in Saurashtra and as a kachcha bigha in western Rajasthan, about 12,000 sq ft in Madhya Pradesh and 8,712 sq ft in Himachal Pradesh. Always check which bigha your district uses.
Key takeaways
- The 27,225 sq ft bigha is more than three times Himachal's 8,712 sq ft, so a price "per bigha" means nothing until you know the state and district.
- Rajasthan runs two bighas side by side: the pucca bigha of 165 × 165 ft and the kachcha bigha of 132 × 132 ft. Mix them up on a 5-bigha deal and you lose 1.125 acres.
- Most bighas split into 20 biswa (called katha in Bihar and Bengal), and each biswa into 20 biswansi or dhur. Assam is different: 5 katha to the bigha and 20 lessa to the katha.
- Revenue records now carry area in hectares or square metres. That figure and the deed's boundaries are what a court or the tehsil looks at, not a quoted bigha count.
- Converters disagree for UP, Uttarakhand and Punjab. Get the tehsil's conversion for your village before you pay.
Bigha in square feet, state by state
Each row gives the figure most sources agree on, and where they split, both. Our hub on land measurement units in India carries one figure per unit; this table shows the regional variants behind them.
| State or region | 1 bigha in sq ft | In acres | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assam | 14,400 | 0.33 | Wikipedia, Dharitree |
| West Bengal | 14,400 | 0.33 | Bajaj Finserv, wblandrecord |
| Uttar Pradesh (east, Lucknow) | 27,225 | 0.625 | Wikipedia, Bajaj Finserv |
| Uttar Pradesh (west) | 6,806 to 9,075 in local usage | 0.16 to 0.21 | Wikipedia; others say 27,000+ |
| Bihar | 27,225 (Patna); up to about 30,000 (Mithila) | 0.625 to 0.69 | Bihar converters |
| Gujarat (Saurashtra) | 17,424 | 0.4 | Vigha converters |
| Gujarat (other areas) | 26,136 | 0.6 | Same sources |
| Rajasthan, pucca | 27,225 | 0.625 | Rajasthan converters |
| Rajasthan, kachcha | 17,424 | 0.4 | Same; Marwar belt |
| Madhya Pradesh | about 12,000 | 0.2755 | MP converters |
| Himachal Pradesh | 8,712 | 0.2 | Bajaj Finserv, Panshul |
| Uttarakhand | about 6,806 (hills); 17,222 to 17,424 (plains) | 0.16; 0.4 | Kumaon Planner, Bajaj Finserv |
| Punjab and Haryana | 21,780 (4 kanal); 9,075 and 27,225 also quoted | 0.5; 0.21; 0.625 | Wikipedia; 99acres |
The acre column is our own arithmetic (1 acre = 43,560 sq ft). The square-foot figures come from guides and converters, not a state gazette, which is why we name each one.
Why the same word covers such different areas
The bigha was a local measure long before land records were standardised, fixed by whatever rod or chain the local settlement used. Two patterns explain most of the table.
Pucca and kachcha bigha
Across UP, Rajasthan and Punjab you will hear of a pucca (standard, larger) bigha and a kachcha (smaller, local) bigha. In Rajasthan the gap is exact: a pucca bigha is a square of 165 ft a side, 27,225 sq ft, and a kachcha bigha is 132 ft a side, 17,424 sq ft. The kachcha measure is common in the Marwar belt and in older rural sales. Punjab and Haryana use the same two words, with far less agreement on the numbers.
Guntha-based bighas in Gujarat
Gujarat builds its vigha out of gunthas. In Saurashtra 16 guntha make a bigha: 16 × 1,089 = 17,424 sq ft, which is exactly 2.5 bighas to the acre. Elsewhere in the state a 24-guntha bigha of 26,136 sq ft is quoted. For more on the guntha itself, see our page on guntha to square feet.
Biswa, biswansi, katha and dhur
A deed or a khatauni rarely says "3 bigha" and stops. It says 3 bigha 7 biswa 12 biswansi, and you need the smaller units to get the area right.
- UP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal: 1 bigha = 20 biswa, 1 biswa = 20 biswansi. On the 27,225 sq ft bigha, a biswa is 1,361.25 sq ft and a biswansi 68.06 sq ft. On Rajasthan's kachcha bigha a biswa is about 871 sq ft.
- Bihar: 1 bigha = 20 katha, 1 katha = 20 dhur. On the Patna standard a katha is 1,361.25 sq ft and a dhur about 68.06 sq ft. Northern districts such as Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur use a smaller katha, so check before you multiply.
- West Bengal: 1 bigha = 20 katha, 1 katha = 16 chhatak, 1 chhatak = 45 sq ft, so a katha is 720 sq ft. Bengal deeds also use the decimal (435.6 sq ft, one-hundredth of an acre); a bigha is about 33 decimals. The decimal is the same unit as the south's cent.
- Assam: 1 bigha = 5 katha, 1 katha = 20 lessa, 1 lessa = 144 sq ft (a 12 × 12 ft square). So a katha is 2,880 sq ft.
Town plots more often come in gaj and marla; see square yard to square feet and 1 marla in square feet.
Bigha to acre, hectare and gaj
Revenue records in UP and many other states show area in hectares, so you often have to go the other way. Our arithmetic, with 1 hectare = 107,639 sq ft and 1 gaj = 9 sq ft:
| Bigha size (sq ft) | Where | Bighas per acre | Bighas per hectare | Gaj per bigha |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27,225 | UP, Bihar, Rajasthan pucca | 1.6 | 3.95 | 3,025 |
| 26,136 | Gujarat, 24-guntha | 1.67 | 4.12 | 2,904 |
| 17,424 | Saurashtra, Rajasthan kachcha | 2.5 | 6.18 | 1,936 |
| 14,400 | Assam, West Bengal | 3.03 | 7.47 | 1,600 |
| 12,000 | Madhya Pradesh | 3.63 | 8.97 | 1,333 |
| 8,712 | Himachal Pradesh | 5 | 12.36 | 968 |
The 3.95 per hectare for the pucca bigha matches what Rajasthan and UP converters print. Himachal ratios in print run from 12.35 to about 13.3 per hectare. For acre conversions, see acre to square feet.
Worked examples with real arithmetic
Rajasthan: the same quote, two prices
A broker in Jodhpur district quotes farmland at Rs 30 lakh a bigha. If that is a pucca bigha, you are paying Rs 30,00,000 ÷ 27,225 = about Rs 110 per sq ft. If it is a kachcha bigha, the same Rs 30 lakh buys 17,424 sq ft, or about Rs 172 per sq ft. Buy 5 bighas thinking pucca when the seller means kachcha, and you get 87,120 sq ft instead of 136,125 sq ft. The gap is 49,005 sq ft, or 1.125 acres, at the same Rs 1.5 crore.
Bihar: adding up bigha, katha and dhur
A Patna-area record reads 2 bigha 5 katha 10 dhur. On the 27,225 sq ft bigha: 2 × 27,225 = 54,450; 5 × 1,361.25 = 6,806.25; 10 × 68.06 = 680.63. The total is about 61,937 sq ft, or 5,754 sq m, or 0.575 hectare. If the khatiyan's hectare figure is far off, the district uses another katha.
What decides the area in a dispute
The bigha count in a conversation is not evidence of anything. What counts is the area written in the registered sale deed and in the record of rights (khatauni, jamabandi, khatiyan), which most states now record in hectares or square metres, together with the boundaries the deed describes. The Legal Metrology Act, 2009 makes the metric system the legal standard, and real estate commentary reads it as requiring developers to sell in square metres.
Where a deed's area and its boundaries do not match, the Supreme Court held in Sheodhyan Singh v. Sanichara Kuer (AIR 1963 SC 1879) that the boundaries generally prevail over the stated measurement. That rule is not absolute: if the parties clearly meant to convey only the stated extent, the court gives effect to that. So make the metric area, the khasra or survey number and the boundaries agree before you sign. Our guide to checking land records online shows where to find each.
Where bigha conversions go wrong for buyers
- Converters that disagree. For Uttar Pradesh we found sites quoting 27,000, 27,225 and 27,900 sq ft, and western UP figures a third that size. For Punjab one source builds the bigha from 4 kanal (21,780 sq ft) while others print 9,075 or 27,225. Don't settle on the number that suits you.
- A seller from one region, land in another. A seller used to the Patna bigha may quote Darbhanga land in it.
- Old deeds in bigha, new records in hectares. Rounding can move the area by a few hundred square feet on a large holding. Have a licensed surveyor measure the ground.
- Agricultural land rules. Much bigha-measured land is farmland, which carries its own purchase limits by state. Read our guide to agricultural land buying rules first.
If you want one national number for a spreadsheet, there isn't one. A calculator that offers one is picking a state for you.
Frequently asked questions
How many square feet is 1 bigha in UP?
In eastern UP and around Lucknow, 1 bigha is usually 27,225 sq ft, made of 20 biswa of 1,361.25 sq ft each. Western UP uses smaller local bighas, and converters quote anything from about 6,800 sq ft to 27,900 sq ft for the state. Your khatauni shows the area in hectares, so convert that figure rather than trusting a bigha count.
How many bigha make 1 acre?
It depends on the bigha. An acre is 43,560 sq ft, so it holds 1.6 pucca bighas of 27,225 sq ft, 2.5 Saurashtra or kachcha bighas of 17,424 sq ft, about 3.03 bighas in Assam and West Bengal, about 3.63 in Madhya Pradesh and exactly 5 in Himachal Pradesh.
What is the difference between a pucca and kachcha bigha in Rajasthan?
A pucca bigha is a square of 165 ft a side, or 27,225 sq ft. A kachcha bigha is 132 ft a side, or 17,424 sq ft, and is common in western districts such as Jodhpur, Barmer and Bikaner. The kachcha bigha is about 36% smaller, so always ask which one a price refers to.
How many katha are in a bigha in Bihar and West Bengal?
Twenty in both, but the katha differs. In Bihar's central districts a katha is about 1,361 sq ft, giving a bigha of 27,225 sq ft. In West Bengal a katha is 720 sq ft, giving a bigha of 14,400 sq ft. Northern Bihar districts use a smaller katha, so check the circle office table.
How many gaj are in 1 bigha?
Divide the bigha's square feet by 9. A 27,225 sq ft bigha is 3,025 gaj, a 17,424 sq ft bigha is 1,936 gaj, and the 14,400 sq ft bigha of Assam and Bengal is 1,600 gaj. Madhya Pradesh's 12,000 sq ft bigha works out to about 1,333 gaj.
Comparing plots quoted in different units across states? Talk to Realty Hunting and we'll help you read the records and the numbers before you commit.
