Marla and Kanal Converter — by district
Marla, kanal, sarsahi and ghumao against the karam length in force. Punjab recognises four karams, so the same 5 marla plot spans a 49% range by district.
Marla and Kanal Converter — the district decides the answer
Convert marla, kanal, sarsahi and ghumao against a karam length you choose, because Punjab recognises four of them and a marla is a different size under each.
Quick answer: one marla and one kanal by karam
| Karam | 1 marla | 1 kanal (20 marla) | Marla per acre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66 in | 272.25 sq ft | 5,445 sq ft | 160 |
| 60 in | 225 sq ft | 4,500 sq ft | 193.6 |
| 57.5 in | 206.64 sq ft | 4,132.8 sq ft | 210.8 |
| 54 in | 182.25 sq ft | 3,645 sq ft | 239 |
1 marla = 9 sarsai, and a sarsai is one square karam; 20 marla make a kanal and 8 kanal a ghumao. The karam is set by the district's settlement, so the same "5 marla" is 1,361 sq ft on the 66-inch karam and 911 on the 54-inch one.
Every other marla calculator gives you one number. The Punjab government publishes four.
A marla is nine square karam, and the karam is a local length. The Office of the Chief Town Planner, Punjab, Memo No. 1050-67-CTP(Pb)/SP-135 of 6 March 1986 lists four officially recognised karams — 66, 60, 57.5 and 54 inches. A "5 marla plot" is 151.25, 125, 114.8 or 101.25 square yards depending on which district it sits in. That is a 49% spread between the largest and the smallest, on the same words in the same sentence.
So this converter will not answer until you tell it which measure applies. There is no default, because a default here is a guess about someone's land.
| Square metres | — |
|---|---|
| Square feet | — |
| Square yards | — |
| Acres | — |
| Marla | — |
| Kanal · marla · sarsahi | — |
| One marla here | — |
| Marla per acre | — |
Urban plots in Haryana are a different thing with the same name. HSVP (formerly HUDA) sells plots in categories called "10 Marla" and "1 Kanal", but the area is fixed in square metres on the allotment letter and does not come from the karam ladder at all. In HSVP's own e‑auction list of 1 January 2023, "10 Marla" plots run 206.8–230 m², with a modal 209.00 m² that is exactly 250 square yards. Ten revenue marla at the 66‑inch karam would be 252.93 m². Apply the revenue constant to an HSVP plot and you overstate it by about 20%. Read the allotment letter, not a converter.
Pakistan. Pre‑Partition revenue records share the 66‑inch karam, so this page converts those. The 225‑square‑foot marla used by DHA, Bahria Town, LDA and CDA housing schemes is a different convention, and we have not found a Pakistani primary authority defining it. Rather than convert it from a number we cannot source, this page declines to. That figure coincides with the 60‑inch karam marla, which may or may not be the reason for it.
What I check on a job
Let the document tell you the karam. Handed a plot described in marla, I first look for a second number on the jamabandi or the sale deed. If it also states the area in square feet or square yards, I divide that by the marla count before I open the converter. A figure near 272.25 ft² per marla puts the record on the 66-inch karam, near 182.25 on the 54-inch. A clean 225 is the trap. It matches the 60-inch karam, but it is also what an HSVP "10 Marla" plot of 250 square yards gives, and what the Pakistani housing-scheme marla gives. So at 225 I ask whether the paper is a revenue record or a scheme allotment, and only then read it as 60 inches. If the figures fit none of the four karams, the document is the problem, and I ask whoever prepared it before any area goes onto a drawing. I keep the karam beside every converted figure I pass on, because "5 marla" without it will be reread at 66 inches.
Karam schedule: Office of the Chief Town Planner, Punjab, Memo No. 1050‑67‑CTP(Pb)/SP‑135, 6 March 1986. Corroborating: Punjab Settlement Manual (Douie) para 243, "The kadams in use vary from 54 to 66 inches… The variations have been reduced, but not abolished"; Punjab Land Records Manual, 3rd ed. 2004, pp. 183–185. Ladder relations (1 marla = 9 sarsahi, 1 kanal = 20 marla, 1 ghumao = 8 kanal) and the acre at 43,560 square feet are definitional. Metric conversion uses the international foot, 1 ft = 0.3048 m exactly, so one marla at the 66‑inch karam is 158080329/6250000 m² = 25.29285264 m² exactly. Haryana is treated as 66‑inch for revenue records because Haryana publishes only that ladder and issues no district schedule of alternatives. If a Haryana district in fact sits on a different karam, this page is wrong for it and we would want to know. Jammu & Kashmir is deliberately absent. The figure its own revenue page prints is marked approximate and is self‑inconsistent, so there is nothing here we would stand behind.
Worked example
How big is a 5 marla plot on the standard 66-inch karam?
- A karam of 66 in is 5.5 ft; a sarsahi is one karam square: 5.5² = 30.25 ft².
- A marla is 9 sarsahi: 9 × 30.25 = 272.25 ft².
- 5 marla = 1,361.25 ft²; an acre (43,560 ft²) holds 160 of them.
1,361.25 ft², about 126.5 m². On a 54-inch karam the same 5 marla is a third smaller, which is why the page refuses to answer until a karam is chosen.
9 values on this page were driven in a browser and compared with independently derived figures on 2026-10-29 (2808 values across 228 calculators site-wide).
Questions
How many square feet in a marla?
It depends on the karam. On the standard 66-inch karam a marla is 272.25 ft² (9 sarsahi of 30.25 ft²); on a 54-inch karam it is 182.25 ft². That is why the page asks which karam applies before it answers.
How many marla in a kanal and an acre?
20 marla make a kanal, and 8 kanal make a ghumao; on the 66-inch karam there are 160 marla to the acre.
Why is a Haryana '10 Marla' plot smaller than ten revenue marla?
Because HSVP fixes the area in square metres on the allotment letter: its 2023 e-auction list runs 206.8–230 m², most often 209.00 m² (exactly 250 square yards). Ten revenue marla at the 66-inch karam would be 252.93 m², about 20% more. Read the allotment letter, not a converter.
Does the page convert the 225-square-foot Pakistani marla?
No. DHA, Bahria Town, LDA and CDA schemes use it, but no Pakistani primary authority defining it was found, so the page declines rather than convert from an unsourced number. Pre-Partition revenue records share the 66-inch karam, and those it converts.