Cubic Feet

CFT Full Form in English, letter by letter

CFT is short for cubic feet, a unit of volume used for sand, aggregate, tanks and cargo in India; one cubic foot is about 28.32 litres.

CFT Full Form in Indian Languages

CFT stands for Cubic Feet, a unit you meet in sand quotes, tank sizes and cargo papers. Six Indian-language versions follow.

What one cubic foot actually is

A cubic foot is the volume of a cube one foot on each side: 12 inches by 12 inches by 12 inches, or 1,728 cubic inches. To get CFT, multiply length, width and height, all measured in feet. A tank 6 ft long, 4 ft wide and 3 ft deep holds 72 CFT, which is close to 2,039 litres.

Conversions worth memorising: 1 CFT equals 28.32 litres, 0.0283 cubic metres and about 7.48 US gallons. In the other direction, one cubic metre is 35.31 cubic feet. Indian dealers quote in CFT while engineers and contracts often work in cubic metres, so 35.3 is where mix-ups usually occur.

Where a reader in India meets CFT

Construction comes first. Sand, gravel and aggregate are quoted per cubic foot by local suppliers, even when large contracts settle in cubic metres. Dry river sand weighs about 45 kg per CFT, so 100 CFT should come to roughly 4.5 tonnes, a quick check on whether a delivery is complete.

Cement gives another reference: a 50 kg bag occupies close to 1.25 CFT. Firewood and timber are sold by stacked volume in many markets, and overhead tanks, septic tanks and borewell storage are often worked out in cubic feet.

Freight is the third place. Sea cargo sold as less than a container load is priced per cubic metre, where 1 CBM equals 35.31 CFT, and air cargo converts volume into a chargeable weight. Written as CFT alone, a figure only tells you the space a consignment occupies.

Cubic feet is also used for the storage space of a godown or a truck body, and refrigerator capacity was once quoted in cubic feet before litres became standard. When comparing two quotes, convert both to the same unit first.

Cusec: the version that appears in the news

A cusec is a cubic foot per second, a rate of flow and not a quantity. One cusec is about 28.3 litres of water passing a point every second, so 1,000 cusecs is about 28,300 litres per second.

Indian newspapers still report dam releases, river flow and canal supply in cusecs, especially in water-sharing disputes between states, even though departments calculate in cubic metres. To read a headline figure in litres per second, multiply it by 28.3.

The mistakes that keep recurring

One more trap: a quote for 'one truck' of sand or aggregate means different volumes in different places, depending on the vehicle. Ask for the quantity in CFT or cubic metres in writing.

Volume is not weight

CFT measures space and tonnes measure mass, so nothing converts between them without a density. River sand weighs about 45 kg per CFT, cement roughly 41 kg and steel around 220 kg. A quotation that mixes CFT with tonnes without naming the material is not telling you much.

Square feet versus cubic feet

Carpet area is counted in square feet, which has two dimensions. Volume needs a third, depth. Confusing square feet with cubic feet is a common cause of disputes in renovation estimates, so confirm whether a rate is per square foot of area or per cubic foot of volume.

Quick checks you can do yourself

Ordering sand at 55 rupees per CFT for 100 CFT means 5,500 rupees for about 4.5 tonnes, or about 1,200 rupees per tonne. Compare that with per-tonne quotes instead of assuming one is cheaper. Filling a 72 CFT tank takes about 2,039 litres.

For concrete, 100 CFT is about 2.83 cubic metres, so convert early and the bill will match the site measurement. When a document prints CFT and tonnes together, it gives two separate figures, space and weight, not a combined unit.

Learn the two conversions, 28.32 litres per CFT and 35.31 CFT per cubic metre, and most sand bills, tank sizes and cusec figures become easy to check. Always ask which material a quoted CFT refers to.

CFT Full Form: Common Questions