Kanal is the everyday unit for farmland, farmhouse plots and large residential plots across the north-west. Revenue records (jamabandi) state holdings in kanal and marla, and eight kanal make one killa, the local word for an acre of 43,560 sq ft. Buyers in Chandigarh’s tricity, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Gurugram’s farmhouse belt and Jammu often quote prices per kanal.
The size of a kanal follows the marla it is built on. On the revenue marla of 272.25 sq ft, a kanal is 5,445 sq ft, about 505.9 square metres or 605 square yards. Many urban colonies and sector plots use a rounder 225 sq ft marla, so a “1 kanal kothi” there is 4,500 sq ft, or 500 square yards. The 945 sq ft gap per kanal is why the deed or allotment letter must say which measure applies.
Example
A 2 kanal farmhouse plot
A seller near Mohali offers a 2 kanal plot at ₹1.5 crore per kanal. On the revenue measure that is 10,890 sq ft, about ₹1,377 per sq ft. If the colony actually uses the 225 sq ft marla, the plot is 9,000 sq ft and the same price works out to about ₹3,333 per sq ft. The figures are illustrative; the broker records the measure in the listing before quoting a rate.
Figures are illustrative, not market rates.
Across India
- Revenue measure (Punjab and Haryana land records): 1 kanal = 20 marla × 272.25 sq ft = 5,445 sq ft; 8 kanal = 1 killa (acre).
- Urban colonies and sector plots: 1 kanal = 20 marla × 225 sq ft = 4,500 sq ft.
- Older karam (chain) lengths in some districts give still other kanal sizes; secondary sources disagree, so confirm with the tehsil before a deal.
Questions about Kanal
How many marla are in one kanal?
Always 20. What changes from place to place is the size of the marla, so a kanal is 5,445 sq ft on the revenue marla of 272.25 sq ft and 4,500 sq ft on the urban marla of 225 sq ft.
How many kanal make an acre?
Eight revenue kanal make one acre (killa): 8 × 5,445 sq ft = 43,560 sq ft. If someone counts in urban kanal of 4,500 sq ft, eight of them are only 36,000 sq ft, well short of an acre.
Sources
- Punjab Land Records Society (PLRS) · accessed
- Address of Choice — kanal converter · accessed
See also
Reviewed