On a cheque in Pakistan or India, write the amount in words like this: Rupees One Lakh Fifty Thousand Only. Start at the far left of the line, begin with "Rupees" (unless your cheque already prints it), finish with "Only", and make the figures box show exactly the same amount. Below are the wordings for 14 common amounts from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2.5 crore, how to write paisa, the lakh-or-million question, the same wording in dollars, pounds, euros, dirhams and riyals (in US English the paper is spelled "check"), and what changes from 15 October 2026, when Pakistan starts clearing cheques from scanned images.
Quick answers
- How do you write 1 lakh on a cheque? "Rupees One Lakh Only". In figures: 1,00,000. Vedantu and IIT Kanpur's SATHEE study platform both give this same wording for 100000.
- How do you write 100000 rupees in words for a cheque? The same: one hundred thousand and one lakh are the same number. Use "Rupees One Lakh Only" in the Indian system or "Rupees One Hundred Thousand Only" in the international system.
- How do you write 1.5 lakh (150000)? "Rupees One Lakh Fifty Thousand Only".
- How do you write 25 lakh (2,500,000)? "Rupees Twenty-five Lakh Only".
- How do you write $1,000 on a check? Benzinga's guide writes whole dollars as "One Thousand 00/100" (cents as a fraction over 100) and says "One Thousand Dollars Only" is an acceptable alternative.
- Lakh or lac? They are two spellings of the same number, 100,000. This guide uses "lakh".
The words line: six rules that keep a cheque safe
The words line is the one a bank, a clerk or a scanner reads to decide how much to pay, so it is the line worth getting exactly right.
- Start at the far left. Leave no empty space before the first word, so nothing can be written in front of it.
- Begin with "Rupees", unless it is already printed. Look at your cheque. If the words line already starts with a printed "Rupees", do not repeat it. Bank of Baroda, for example, shows a Rs 1,500 cheque as "One Thousand Five Hundred Only".
- Finish with "Only". SATHEE describes this as the standard format and says it is there to prevent fraudulent additions. It is a widely used convention rather than something we found written into a law, but there is no reason to leave it out.
- Draw a line through any empty space after "Only", up to the end of the words line.
- Make the words and the figures say the same amount. More on this below.
- Do not overwrite. If you make a mistake, the safe habit is to start a new cheque rather than scribble over the old one.
Cheque wording for 14 common amounts
The number words below come from the same functions as our free Number to Words converter, with "Rupees" added in front and "Only" at the end, so what you read here is what the tool gives you.
| Figures | Write on the words line |
|---|---|
| 5,000 | Rupees Five Thousand Only |
| 12,500 | Rupees Twelve Thousand Five Hundred Only |
| 25,000 | Rupees Twenty-five Thousand Only |
| 50,000 | Rupees Fifty Thousand Only |
| 75,000 | Rupees Seventy-five Thousand Only |
| 1,00,000 | Rupees One Lakh Only |
| 1,25,000 | Rupees One Lakh Twenty-five Thousand Only |
| 1,50,000 | Rupees One Lakh Fifty Thousand Only |
| 2,50,000 | Rupees Two Lakh Fifty Thousand Only |
| 5,00,000 | Rupees Five Lakh Only |
| 10,00,000 | Rupees Ten Lakh Only |
| 25,00,000 | Rupees Twenty-five Lakh Only |
| 1,00,00,000 | Rupees One Crore Only |
| 2,50,00,000 | Rupees Two Crore Fifty Lakh Only |
In the international system the same numbers read: 1,00,000 is one hundred thousand, 10,00,000 is one million, 1,00,00,000 is ten million and 2,50,00,000 is twenty-five million.
Not on the list? Type any amount into the converter, pick PKR or INR (or another currency), and tick "Add Only at end". For example, 1,50,000 in PKR with "Only" or 25,00,000 in INR with "Only" open the tool with the answer already filled in.
How to write paisa on a cheque
Say the rupees first, then the paisa, then "Only", and name both units so the line cannot be misread. For Rs 12,500.50 the converter gives Twelve Thousand Five Hundred Rupees and Fifty Paisa Only. If the amount has no paisa, skip this section. Write the figures box the way the layout printed on your own cheque shows it.
Lakh and crore, or million: which should you write?
They are the same number in two systems. One lakh is 1,00,000 (one hundred thousand). One crore is 100 lakh, or 1,00,00,000 (ten million). So 25,00,000 is both "twenty-five lakh" and "two million five hundred thousand".
In Pakistan and India amounts are normally said in lakh and crore, so that is the form we would write on a cheque. We did not find a rule from either country's central bank that bans the other system, so this is our advice, not a regulation. If a particular bank or a counterparty insists on one form, follow them.
Dollars, pounds, euros, dirhams and riyals: same rules, different wording
None of the six rules depend on the currency. The words line starts at the left, closes with a line or "Only", and says the same amount as the figures. What changes is the name of the unit and, in some countries, how the small unit is written.
- US and Canada. Benzinga's check-writing guide writes the cents as a fraction over 100: $1,000.00 becomes "One Thousand 00/100", and 25 cents becomes "25/100". It also says "One Thousand Dollars Only" can be written instead.
- UK, Europe, the Gulf and elsewhere. Name both units in words, as the converter does, so the line cannot be read as a different amount. Local banks may prefer their own style, so compare with the sample in your cheque book or your bank's help page.
| Figures | Converter wording |
|---|---|
| USD 2,450.75 | Two Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty Dollars and Seventy-five Cents Only |
| GBP 1,200.50 | One Thousand Two Hundred Pounds and Fifty Pence Only |
| EUR 3,000.00 | Three Thousand Euros Only |
| AED 15,750.50 | Fifteen Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty Dirhams and Fifty Fils Only |
| SAR 7,500.25 | Seven Thousand Five Hundred Riyals and Twenty-five Halalas Only |
| CAD 800.00 | Eight Hundred Dollars Only |
| AUD 950.40 | Nine Hundred and Fifty Dollars and Forty Cents Only |
The converter supports 31 currencies. Pick yours, choose the international system, and tick "Add Only at end": 2,450.75 in USD opens with the answer already filled in. The converter has a "Use and" option too, which adds the "and" inside hundreds ("four hundred and fifty"); untick it if you or your bank prefer no "and" in the dollar part.
The words line is the one nobody can guess for you, so write it so there is nothing left to add and nothing to argue about.
What if the words and the figures do not match?
In India, section 18 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 says that when the amount is written differently in figures and in words, the amount in words is the one that counts (text of section 18).
In Pakistan the same 1881 Act still applies: the State Bank's own circular on the new clearing system tells banks to comply with it. We could not find the Pakistani wording of section 18 in a source we could open, so we are not going to tell you which amount a Pakistani bank must honour. The practical answer is the same in both countries: do not rely on a rule you would have to argue in a branch. Write the words and the figures so that they are identical.
From 15 October 2026, Pakistani cheques are cleared from images
On 5 October 2026 the State Bank of Pakistan issued DI&SD Circular No. 02 launching the Pakistan Express Clearing System (PECS). Under it, cheques are cleared on the basis of images, instead of physical instruments. The bank where you deposit the cheque captures the image and sends it to the clearing house (NIFT), which passes it to the bank the cheque is drawn on (SBP circular).
- Dates. Implementation starts on 15 October 2026 as a pilot and is to reach nationwide coverage by 30 April 2027, according to the circular. Geo News reports that the first phase runs from 15 October to 15 November at institutions selected by the SBP, and the second from 16 November to 31 December at the remaining clearing-house members (Geo News, 6 October 2026).
- The paper is still checked when the image is not enough. Geo reports that the bank the cheque is drawn on can mark an item "Defer for Physical" if it doubts the instrument or the image.
- Banks must tell customers. The circular requires financial institutions to run awareness campaigns through print, electronic and social media.
The main text of the SBP circular says nothing about how customers should write a cheque (we could not open its annexures), and we are not claiming it does. But a cheque will now be judged from a scan, so a neat words line that starts at the left edge, a ruled line through the empty space, and words that match the figures are the easiest version to read on a screen. That is our practical reading of how the system works, not a State Bank rule.
Check your own amount in ten seconds
Free cheque amount converter
Type any amount, choose PKR or INR, tick "Add Only at end", and copy the wording. It also shows your figures in lakh style (1,50,000), so you can check the figures box too.
If you write a lot of amounts in words, for example on invoices and vouchers, our other free tools need no sign-up either.
