What would you like to have - Million or Crore?

1 million = 10 Lakh

10 million = 1 crore

1000 million = 1 billion

1 billion = 100 crore

What has happened to me today? You must be wondering. Some of you must be finding me crazy or dumb wondering why do I wanna write something when I have no thoughts in my mind?

Well, however dumb it sounds, I have a point in quoting the above conversions. Not that I am starting a section on academics! You see, in primary school, when the foundation of our elementary mathematics was laid, all we were taught were thousands, lakhs and crores. Thousands meant very expensive, lakh was a big figure and crore was a figure one only heard of in television. That’s 80s and 90s childhood for you.

Life was beautiful till school and even graduation. However, a post graduation in finance saw frequent encounters with millions and billions. While it was more about cracking the numerical back then, they seemed fairly tolerable. However, the real problem began when I stepped into the corporate world. Everything everywhere is quoted in millions and billions. While technically it is not at all a problem, I am somehow miss my old friends – lakhs and crores. Now, when someone quotes a figure in millions and billion that needs an opinion, the mind goes back to lakhs or crores within fraction of a second and that’s when I can infer whether it is a figure to bother about or not. Somehow, even today, if I have to conclude how expensive something is, or the extent of financial implications, my old friends lakhs and crores come in handy.

When life was all good with lakhs and crores, why then is it mandatory adopt the strangers millions and billions? I often wonder…

Image source: Google images

The answer goes back to the 80s when focus was more on the Indian Numbering System.  While teachers took us briefly through the international numbering system, everything around us was quoted in lakhs and crores. However, in the global arena, there needs to be uniformity, and hence, millions and billions get away with the cherry on the cake.

Do you face the same fraction of a second calculation every time a figure is calculated in millions and billions? Or the world around you has always valued money in these number?

Your thoughts are welcome…

P.S.  We are lucky we just have millions and billions in our life. Look at this page on Names of Large numbers and you will realize life is still beautiful!