A cent is 1/100 of an acre, or 435.6 square feet. It’s the everyday land unit in Kerala and common in Tamil Nadu and parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Example
A house plot in Kochi
A 5 cent house plot in Kochi is 5 × 435.6 = 2,178 sq ft, about 202 square metres. If land there is quoted at ₹8 lakh per cent, the plot costs ₹40 lakh, or about ₹1,837 per sq ft. Kerala sellers rarely quote in square feet for land, so convert cents before comparing with a flat.
Figures are illustrative, not market rates.
Across India
- Kerala: the everyday unit for land; land records also use the are (100 sq m, about 2.47 cents).
- Tamil Nadu: cents for land outside the city; in Chennai plots are often in grounds (1 ground ≈ 5.51 cents).
- Andhra Pradesh: one cent is about 6.05 ankanam, a local unit of 72 sq ft.
Questions about Cent
How many square feet is one cent?
One cent is exactly 435.6 sq ft, because it is one-hundredth of an acre (43,560 sq ft). It is also 48.4 square yards or about 40.47 square metres. Ten cents is 4,356 sq ft, a common size for a house plot in Kerala.
Is a cent the same as a decimal?
Both are one-hundredth of an acre, 435.6 sq ft. The name differs by region: “cent” in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, “decimal” or “dismil” in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.
How many cents are in a hectare?
One hectare is about 247.1 cents, because a hectare is about 2.471 acres. Land records in some states show hectares or ares, so converting to cents helps when a seller quotes the cent price used in local trade.
Sources
- e-Rekha — Kerala survey and land records · accessed
- Tamil Nadu e-Services — patta and land records · accessed
See also
Reviewed