If you’ve searched “1 satak to decimal in west bengal” or “1 acre to decimal in west bengal” and gotten a confusing answer, here’s the short version: Satak and Decimal are the same unit. The confusion around West Bengal’s land measurement units comes from having five different traditional units in everyday use — Bigha, Katha, Chatak, Ganda, and Decimal — each with a regional or colloquial alias, alongside the standard units used in registration paperwork: Sq Ft, Sq Meter, Sq Yard, Acre, and Hectare.
This page is the reference. For instant conversion of any amount, use the West Bengal Land Measurement Converter — everything below is the reasoning behind the numbers it gives you.
The West Bengal unit ladder
West Bengal’s traditional land units nest inside each other, largest to smallest:
| Unit | Equals | Sq Ft |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Bigha | 20 Katha = 33 Decimal | 14,400 sq ft |
| 1 Katha | 16 Chatak = 20 Ganda = 1.65 Decimal | 720 sq ft |
| 1 Chatak | 1⁄16 Katha | 45 sq ft |
| 1 Ganda | 1⁄20 Katha | 36 sq ft |
| 1 Decimal (Satak) | 1⁄33 Bigha | 435.6 sq ft |
And against the standard measures used in deeds, mutation records, and price-per-unit comparisons:
| Unit | Sq Ft |
|---|---|
| 1 Sq Meter | 10.7639 sq ft |
| 1 Sq Yard | 9 sq ft |
| 1 Acre | 43,560 sq ft (≈ 3.03 Bigha) |
| 1 Hectare | 107,639.1 sq ft (≈ 7.47 Bigha) |
Worked examples
- 1 Bigha in Decimal: 14,400 ÷ 435.6 = 33 Decimal
- 1 Acre in Bigha: 43,560 ÷ 14,400 = ≈3.03 Bigha
- 1 Katha in Chatak: 720 ÷ 45 = 16 Chatak
- 100 Decimal in Bigha: (100 × 435.6) ÷ 14,400 = ≈3.03 Bigha
- 1 Bigha, 8 Chatak in Sq Ft: 14,400 + (8 × 45) = 14,760 sq ft
Why the numbers vary by district — and why that matters
The figures above are the West Bengal real-estate industry’s standard convention, and the ones the land measurement converter on this site uses. But “Bigha” isn’t a fixed SI unit — it’s a traditional measure whose exact size historically varied by district and by pre-independence zamindari estate, and older land records (Khatian entries from the colonial and immediate post-independence period especially) sometimes reflect a locally different Bigha size than the 14,400 sq ft convention used today.
What this means practically: for a rough estimate, price comparison, or converting a number you’ve read somewhere, the standard table above is reliable. For anything that touches a legal document — registration, mutation, a sale deed, a partition — the area that legally counts is whatever is recorded in your BLRO (Block Land and Revenue Office) record for that specific plot, not a converter. If the two disagree, the land record wins.
Common unit name confusion
A few units get asked about under names that aren’t obvious:
- Satak / Shotok / Shotangsho — all regional names for Decimal. Same unit, same 435.6 sq ft.
- Khata — often just an alternate spelling of Katha, not a different unit. (Note: in some other states, “Khata” refers to a municipal property tax/ownership record, not an area unit — context matters.)
- Ganda — a smaller unit than Chatak, used mostly in older rural land records: 1 Katha = 20 Ganda = 36 sq ft per Ganda.
Convert instantly
Rather than do the arithmetic by hand, the West Bengal Land Measurement Converter on this site converts any amount — Bigha, Katha, Chatak, Ganda, or Decimal — to Sq Ft, Sq Meter, Sq Yard, Acre, and Hectare live, and back.