diff --git a/python/pyarrow/__init__.py b/python/pyarrow/__init__.py
index a245fe6796023..6a613a3b29540 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/__init__.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/__init__.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
    # package is not installed
     try:
         import setuptools_scm
-        __version__ = setuptools_scm.get_version('../')
+        __version__ = setuptools_scm.get_version(root='../../', relative_to=__file__)
     except (ImportError, LookupError):
         __version__ = None