A plain-language guide for anyone buying a site, checking a Khata, or reading a building plan in Hoskote and Bengaluru Rural — with Cents, Guntas, and a free calculator.
If you've bought or are planning to buy a site in Hoskote, you've probably noticed something confusing: the broker tells you the site is "30x46," your Sale Deed says the area in square metres, your Khata extract shows the four boundary dimensions separately, and your bank's valuation report mentions cents or guntas. Four documents, four different units, all describing the exact same piece of land.
This isn't anyone trying to confuse you — it's just that different offices in Karnataka's land record system have historically used different units. Revenue records (RTC) grew out of an agricultural land system that used acres, guntas and cents. Registration documents largely moved to the metric system (square metres) after India adopted it officially. But everyday conversation, and most local advertising, still happens in square feet. This guide walks through all of it in one place.
Keep these five numbers handy — almost every property calculation in Karnataka comes back to them.
| Convert | Multiply by | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Square metres → Square feet | × 10.7639 | 100 sqm = 1,076.39 sqft |
| Square feet → Square metres | × 0.092903 | 1,000 sqft = 92.90 sqm |
| Metres → Feet | × 3.28084 | 10 m = 32.81 ft |
| Feet → Metres | × 0.3048 | 30 ft = 9.144 m |
| Feet → Millimetres | × 304.8 | 30 ft = 9,144 mm |
Why millimetres show up too: approved building plans and structural drawings in Karnataka are almost always dimensioned in millimetres or metres, per standard drafting practice — not feet. So when your architect's drawing says a wall is 9144 mm, that's simply your familiar 30 ft, expressed the way the drawing office works.
Let's take a real, common Hoskote plot size — a rectangular site measuring 30 ft (North & South) × 46 ft (East & West), which multiplies out to exactly 1,380 sqft. Here is every side, converted into every unit you're likely to see on a document:
A 30 ft × 46 ft rectangular site (1,380 sqft) with every side converted to metres and millimetres.
| Side | Feet | Metres | Millimetres |
|---|---|---|---|
| North boundary | 30 ft | 9.144 m | 9,144 mm |
| South boundary | 30 ft | 9.144 m | 9,144 mm |
| East boundary | 46 ft | 14.021 m | 14,021 mm |
| West boundary | 46 ft | 14.021 m | 14,021 mm |
| Total plot area | 1,380 sqft | 128.21 sqm | — |
Note: area is almost never expressed in square millimetres in practice — the number would run into hundreds of millions (1,380 sqft ≈ 128,206,000 sqmm) and isn't useful for a site. Millimetres matter for individual side lengths on a drawing, not the overall area.
Enter your own site's numbers below. This works entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Type into either box.
Enter each boundary length in feet, as shown on your survey sketch or Khata.
A perfectly rectangular plot has North = South and East = West, exactly like the example above. In real life, plenty of Hoskote sites are not perfect rectangles — the North side might read 29 ft while the South reads 31 ft, because:
When sides differ, the area of an irregular (trapezoidal) plot is usually approximated as: Area ≈ (Average of North & South) × (Average of East & West). For a genuinely odd-shaped plot, insist on the licensed surveyor's measurement sketch rather than doing this by hand — the approximation is fine for a quick sanity check, not for a legal record.
Rule of thumb: if your North and South sides (or East and West) differ by more than about 5%, don't assume it's a typo — ask for the original survey sketch before you finalise anything.
Cents and Guntas come from the older revenue system for measuring land, and you'll still see them on RTC extracts, older sale deeds, agricultural-to-residential conversion orders, and sometimes bank valuation reports — especially for sites that were carved out of a larger agricultural survey number.
| Unit | Square feet | Square metres | Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Cent | 435.6 sqft | 40.47 sqm | 1/100th of an acre |
| 1 Gunta | 1,089 sqft | 101.17 sqm | 2.5 cents · 1/40th of an acre |
| 1 Acre | 43,560 sqft | 4,046.86 sqm | 100 cents · 40 guntas |
| 1 Hectare | 1,07,639 sqft | 10,000 sqm | 2.471 acres · ~247 cents |
Using our 1,380 sqft example site:
You'll rarely need to do this math by hand more than once — but knowing what these numbers mean helps you sanity-check a broker's claim or an RTC extract at a glance.
Here's the practical map of which unit tends to appear on which document. Practice can vary slightly between individual Panchayats, BMRDA and the Sub-Registrar's office, so always cross-check the specific figure against your own paperwork:
| Stage | Typical unit(s) you'll see | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Sale Deed / Registration | Sqft and sqm both stated; agricultural-origin land often also shows guntas/cents | This is your primary legal proof of area — it should match your Khata and site sketch |
| Khata (Panchayat/BMRDA) | All four side dimensions plus total sqft | Used to compute property tax and to certify possession for approvals |
| Building Plan Approval | Metres/millimetres on the drawing, setbacks in metres | Approved drawings must match the actual site dimensions or your plan can be rejected |
| Bank Loan / Valuation | Sqft (saleable/built-up) with sqm, and guntas/acres for larger parcels | Valuers use this to estimate market value and eligible loan amount |
| Property Tax | Built-up area in sqft (per local capital-value or zonal method) | Determines your annual tax; a mismatch here can cause future disputes |
Send us your site sketch or Khata on WhatsApp — we'll convert every dimension, flag any mismatch, and tell you what it means for your build. No charge, no obligation.
This article is for general information only and isn't legal advice. Land record practices can vary by Panchayat, BMRDA jurisdiction and individual case — always verify figures against your own registered documents with a licensed surveyor or advocate before taking any decision.