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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portuguese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Español | Tagalog / Filipino
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The Teli of Nepal

The Teli of Nepal, numbering approximately 532,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a large occupational caste/community of South Asia, historically known as oil pressers and oil traders. Their name comes from a Hindi word meaning oil, reflecting their traditional work of extracting vegetable oil using bullock‑driven wooden presses. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Nepali (individual language) is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: Teli

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Nepal
People Cluster: Teli
Primary Language(s): Nepali (individual language) (npi)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 532,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG049157
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Pray for the Teli of Nepal

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

99%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Nepali (individual language)
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Nepali Speakers

Media Resources in Nepali (individual language):

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

4 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Nepali (individual language):

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
New Revised Version✓✓
New Revised Version - LUMO Christmas Film✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Nepali (individual language) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Teli are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Teli:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Teli of Nepal

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
readExodus 2:23-24

As the lost among them labor, groan, and cry out under false religions and sin, pray God will have mercy on them and hear their cries, that He will be their Rescuer from the kingdom of darkness and bring them into the kingdom of light.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed"
readGalatians 3:8

Ask the Lord to fulfill His promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed by advancing the gospel to every people group who has yet to receive it.

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
readRomans 10:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be eager to proclaim the good news of peace, knowing that the Lord has called them to this task.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
readEphesians 6:11

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will put on the full armor of God so that they will be able to stand against the schemes of the enemy.

Teli Across Countries (ROP3 - 113757) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Teli (Hindi)PG046205Teli (Hindi)India9,635,000Engaged yet UnreachedHindiHinduism
TeliPG049157TeliNepal532,000Engaged yet UnreachedNepali (individual language)Hinduism

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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