The 22 scheduled languages of India
India's Constitution lists 22 languages in its Eighth Schedule, known as the scheduled languages. Together they are spoken by more than a billion people across every state and union territory. This page lists all of them with their scripts, approximate speaker counts, and where they are spoken.
| Language | Native name | Script | Speakers | Mainly spoken in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assamese | অসমীয়া | Assamese (Eastern Nagari) | about 25 million | Assam, Arunachal Pradesh |
| Bengali | বাংলা | Bengali | about 100 million | West Bengal, Tripura, Assam (Barak Valley), Andaman & Nicobar |
| Bodo | बर' / बड़ो | Devanagari | about 1.5 million | Assam (Bodoland), Nagaland, Meghalaya |
| Dogri | डोगरी | Devanagari | about 2.5 million | Jammu region of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab |
| Gujarati | ગુજરાતી | Gujarati | about 60 million | Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu |
| Hindi | हिन्दी | Devanagari | more than 500 million | Hindi belt (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, etc.) |
| Kannada | ಕನ್ನಡ | Kannada | about 45 million | Karnataka, Kerala (Kasargod), Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu |
| Kashmiri | کٲشُر / कॉशुर | Perso-Arabic (also Devanagari) | about 7 million | Kashmir Valley of Jammu & Kashmir |
| Konkani | कोंकणी | Devanagari (official), also Roman and Kannada | about 2.5 million | Goa, coastal Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala |
| Maithili | मैथिली | Devanagari (also Tirhuta) | about 35 million | Bihar (Mithila region), Jharkhand, Nepal |
| Malayalam | മലയാളം | Malayalam | about 38 million | Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry (Mahe) |
| Manipuri (Meitei) | ꯃꯤꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ / মৈতৈলোন্ | Meitei Mayek (also Bengali) | about 2 million | Manipur, Assam, Tripura, Nagaland |
| Marathi | मराठी | Devanagari | about 85 million | Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu |
| Nepali | नेपाली | Devanagari | about 16 million in India | Sikkim, West Bengal (Darjeeling), Assam, Uttarakhand |
| Odia | ଓଡ଼ିଆ | Odia | about 40 million | Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh |
| Punjabi | ਪੰਜਾਬੀ | Gurmukhi | about 35 million in India | Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh |
| Sanskrit | संस्कृतम् | Devanagari | about 25,000 (revival ongoing) | All India (classical language), Mattur, Karnataka |
| Santali | ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ | Ol Chiki | about 8 million | Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam |
| Sindhi | سنڌي / सिन्धी | Perso-Arabic (also Devanagari) | about 3 million in India | Gujarat (Kutch), Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi |
| Tamil | தமிழ் | Tamil | about 75 million | Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar, Karnataka, Kerala |
| Telugu | తెలుగు | Telugu | about 90 million | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Yanam (Puducherry) |
| Urdu | اردو | Perso-Arabic (Nastaliq) | about 50 million in India | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana (Hyderabad), Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir |
What "scheduled language" means
The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution recognises languages for representation in the Official Languages Commission and for cultural preservation. The original Constitution of 1950 listed 14 languages. Amendments added Sindhi in 1967, Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali in 1992, and Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santali in 2003, bringing the total to 22. The list is about recognition, not status: each scheduled language has hundreds of years, sometimes thousands, of literature behind it.
Speaker counts above are approximate Census-based estimates that include first- and second-language speakers. Real numbers are higher, because millions of people speak two or three of these languages daily.
Typing and dictation in the scheduled languages
Several of these languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Sanskrit and Konkani, share the Devanagari script, while others use their own: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam each have distinct scripts, and Meitei Mayek is the official script of Manipuri. Typing any of them on a phone keyboard is slow, which is why voice input matters here.
Veena is a free speech to text app built for exactly this list: it transcribes all 22 scheduled languages on your device, offline, at no charge. Every language name in the table links to a page on how well it handles that language, from Hindi voice typing to Santali dictation. See the speech to text hub or download Veena for Android, iPhone, or Windows.
Questions about India's scheduled languages
How many scheduled languages does India have?
India has 22 scheduled languages, listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The original Constitution recognised 14 in 1950; amendments have added eight more since, most recently Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santali.
Which scheduled language has the most speakers?
Hindi has the most speakers by a wide margin, followed by Bengali, Marathi and Telugu. Speaker counts are approximate because many people speak more than one language.
Is English a scheduled language of India?
No. English is used for official purposes under the Official Languages Act, but it is not one of the 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule.
Can I use speech to text in all 22 scheduled languages?
Yes. Veena is a free app that transcribes speech to text in every scheduled language of India, entirely on your device. Each language page linked above explains what dictation sounds like in that language.