| | Language 2001 census[1]\n(total population 1,004.59 million) 1991 censusIndian Census [2]\n(total population 838.14 million) 1991 censusIndian Census [2]\n(total population 838.14 million) |
| | Speakers Speakers Percentage |
| | Hindi 422,048,642 337,272,114 40.0% 336 M |
| | Bengali 230,000,000 200,595,738 28.30% 320 M |
| | Punjabi 130,000,000 100,017,615 20.87% 113 M |
| | Telugu 70,002,856 65,595,738 8.30% 70 M |
| | Marathi 71,936,894 62,481,681 7.45% 68.0 M |
| | Tamil 60,793,814 53,006,368 6.32% 66.0 M |
| | Urdu 51,536,111 43,406,932 5.18% 60.3 M |
| | Gujarati 46,091,617 40,673,814 4.85% 46.1 M |
| | Kannada 37,924,011 32,753,676 3.91% 40.3 M |
| | Malayalam 33,066,392 30,377,176 3.62% 35.7 M |
| | Oriya 33,017,446 28,061,313 3.35% 32.3 M |
| | Sindhi 25,535,485 25,122,848 0.248% 32.3 M |
| | Nepali 23,017,446 28,061,313 3.35% 32.3 M |
| | Sinhalese 19,017,446 28,061,313 3.35% 32.3 M |
| | Assamese 13,168,484 13,079,696 1.56% 15.4 M |
| | Maithili 12,179,122 1.18% |
| | Bhili/Bhilodi 9,582,957 5,572,308 0.665% |
| | Santali 6,469,600 5,216,325 0.622% |
| | Kashmiri 5,527,698 0.54% |
| | Gondi 2,713,790 2,124,852 0.253% |
| | Konkani 2,489,015 1,760,607 0.210% |
| | Dogri 2,282,589[dubious – discuss] 0.22% |
| | Khandeshi 2,075,258 0.21% |
| | Kurukh 1,751,489 0.17% 1,426,618 0.170% |
| | Tulu 1,722,768 0.17% 1,552,259 0.185% |
| | Meitei (Manipuri) 1,466,705* 0.14% 1,270,216 0.151% |
| | Bodo 1,350,478 0.13% 1,221,881 0.146% |
| | Khasi 1,128,575 0.112% |
| | Mundari 1,061,352 0.105% |
| | Ho 1,042,724 0.103% |
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