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%